Description

Volume 4 of We Were Eagles reaches the climax of the daylight bomber war which saw the Eighth Air Force B-17s and B-24s push back the boundaries and huge fleets of bombers penetrate further into the diminishing Reich. The war dragged on and it was obvious hostilities would not end by Christmas 1944. The German breakthrough in the Ardennes which became known as the 'Battle of the Bulge' only delayed the inevitable. Allied air power helped stop and finally end the short-lived offensive and by January 1945, before the Allies had crossed the Rhine, the Third Reich was on the brink of defeat and victory in Europe was assured. For the Eighth there were raids as far afield as Leipzig, Dresden, southern Germany and Czechoslovakia. Although air power did not win the war on its own, the war could not have been won without it. This is an evocative testimony to the memory and sacrifice of the American airmen who served in Europe with the Eighth Air Force and a tribute to the annals of American aviation in the Second World War.