Mandle, William D. and David H. Whittier. Combat Record of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, April 1943 - July 1945. Nashville, TN: Battery Press, 2004

ISBN 0-89839-000-1
unpaginated

Photos; List of casualties

   Despite having large yellow lettering on a bold blue oversized cover, this book might be difficult to identify. The lettering on the cover reads "The Devils in Baggy Pants," but the title page disagrees. It says "Combat Record of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, April 1943 - July 1945." Apparently the latter is the official title of the book. Equally confusing, neither cover nor title page lists an author, although the Foreword or Introduction (it's not labeled) is signed by R. H. (Reuben) Tucker, CO of the 504th. Fortunately, the last page states "compiled by Lt William D. Mandle...and PFC David H. Whittier." The last page, like all the others, lacks a page number. (These limitations, by the way, are not the doing of Battery Press which has faithfully reproduced the original in this reprint edition.)
   Taken alone, those minor points might not be worth mentioning, but in fact they're indicative of a rather amateurish approach by the team that originally compiled the book. The term "compiled" makes sense here, because not a great deal was actually written.
   The opening chapter offers two pages of introductory text about formation of the 504th and its movement to Kairouan, Tunisia ("second most holy city for members of the Mohammedan religion") followed by eight pages of photos of the unit in North Africa. The second chapter covers operations in Sicily according to the same pattern: two pages of text followed by eight pages of photos. For operations on the Italian mainland, the text expands to ten pages followed by over twenty pages of photographs. The unit's months in England, operations in the Netherlands (including Market-Garden, where the 504th was relieved by the "crack Irish Guards Armored Division"), R&R in France, operations during the Battle of the Bulge, and the final battle for Germany are all covered in like style.
   The book concludes with "team photos" of each company of the 504th and rosters of paratroopers KIA and MIA in Sicily, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
   In sum, this is little more than a photo album with some generic introductory text for each chapter plus brief captions. Mandle and Whittier seem to have done no fact-checking and their captions don't even identify soldiers or give more than vague information. For actual data, there's not much here, but those who enjoy photos will probably like the pictures.

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Bergstrom, Christer and Martin Pegg. Luftwaffe Colours, Volume Four, Section 3: Jagdwaffe: The War in Russia, November 1942 - December 1943. Crowborough, UK: Classic Publications, 2004

ISBN 1-903223-36-9
96 pages

Photos; Color Profiles; Sidebars

   Since 1999 Classic has been producing very nice volumes in the Luftwaffe Colours: Jagdwaffe series, tracing the operations of the Luftwaffe fighter force from Spain through Poland and the West to North Africa and the Russian Front. This third installment on fighter operations during the Russo-German War takes the story from November 1942 through December 1943, with Christer Bergstrom doing duty as the lead author for the second time.
   As always, this volume provides a solid but fairly condensed account of the ebb and flow of operations. If anything, this one contains more operational material than usual, but its real strength is in examining the units, the pilots, their aircraft, and other interesting sidelights of the campaign. For the latter, this time around the authors provide two pages on "Rumanian Bf 109s," two on "The Stalingrad Airlift," two more on "The Spanish Blue Squadron," three pages on "15. (Kroat)/JG 52," four pages on Luftwaffe ace Gunther Rall, and finally a three-page sidebar on "13. (Slowak.)/JG 52."
   The authors don't skimp on photos or profiles of individual aircraft with markings and color schemes. Among many interesting photographs is one overturned Bf 109 in the snow wearing a scribbled "wave" camouflage and looking for all the world like an abandoned vehicle repeatedly tagged with illegible graffiti.
   The layout and design might not sparkle with quite the same level of inspiration as some of the earlier volumes, but this remains a very handsome book. Overall, it's another strong addition to a great series full of attractions for a wide range of readers.

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Badsey, Stephen and Tim Bean. Battle Zone Normandy: Omaha Beach. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2004

ISBN 0-7509-3017-9
192 pages

Introduction; photos; maps; diagrams; OBs and TOEs; Further Research; Index

   Like the Luftwaffe volume from Classic, the Omaha book from Sutton is part of a much larger series, in this case the ongoing Battle Zone Normandy collection (recently reviewed here).
   Omaha Beach closely follows the same structure as the earlier volumes in the set. Part One is a short Introduction by Simon Trew, general editor of the series. Part Two, "History," comprises six chapters covering the action at Omaha with about seventy-five pages:

Plans and Preparations
The German Defences
The D-Day Landings
Bloody Omaha
Beyond the Bluffs
Securing the Beachhead

   Part Three, with just under seventy pages, outlines four tours of the battlefield while Part Four, "On Your Return," provides a brief bibliography of books about the landings.
   The layout also sticks with the design of the series as a whole, including assorted photos (with some "then and now" comparisons), maps, diagrams, and/or sidebars (such as OB and TOE data) on almost every page. Badsey and Bean work fairly well within this structure, and this is certainly not an amateur effort. However, with well under a hundred pages of text about planning and operations (leaving battlefield tours out of the equation), this serves at best as an introduction to the subject, and it can't really compare to serious, major works on Omaha such as those by Joe Balkoski or Adrian Lewis. On the other hand, it's a perfectly adequate primer with the advantage of fitting seamlessly into the larger Battle Zone Normandy series.

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Watkins, Robert A. Battle Colors: Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the Eighth Air Force in World War II, volume 1: VIII Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2004

ISBN 0-7643-1987-6
127 pages

Introduction; photos; diagrams; map; artwork; Acknowledgements; Bibliography; Index

   Much like the history of the 540th Para Regiment, Robert Watkins' book is all about images rather than text. Beyond a six page Introduction, the remainder of the volume consists of little more than photos, illustrations, and diagrams (along with captions) exploring the insignia and markings of 8th Air Force bombers.
   Watkins approaches the task methodically but in a very visual style. For example, he expends about fourteen pages with colorful, artistic organigrams displaying the divisions, wings, groups, and squadrons of the Eighth, setting a highly graphical tone for the book when most other authors would have simply used a few columns of text.
   The book then utilizes an identical two-page spread with the following elements for each bomber group:

A graphical representation of the chain of command above the Group HQ

A box displaying drawings of various identification markings used by aircraft of the Group on wings, fuselages, tails, etc along with explanatory notes, such as: "In March 1944 the 389th received its' [sic] SD110 squadron codes. Initially applied to the fuselage of natural metal finish B-17G's using Identification Yellow, this was quickly amended to Black. Light blue-grey was used to apply the codes to the groups [sic] camouflaged aircraft." (The cover of the book gives a pretty good view of how this part of the page looks.)

A row showing the individual squadron codes and insignia within the Group. (Also shown on the book cover.)

A summary of the Group number (such as 389th Bombardment Group (Heavy)), nickname ("The Sky Scorpions"), station name and number, campaigns in which the Group participated, and dates assigned to the Eighth Air Force

A map pinpointing the location(s) of the Group's station(s) in England

A written synopsis of the evolution of the colors and markings of the Group's aircraft

Photos and drawings of colors, markings, and insignia on representative aircraft

   As a wordsmith, Watkins earns poor marks and seems absolutely baffled by the differences among plurals, possessives, and plural possessives. Fortunately, these pages are all about colors and images, not words. From a visual perspective, this is a very attractive and informative book, and sure to be welcomed by modelers or anyone with an interest in this kind of 8th Air Force exotica.

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   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from the publishers.
   Thanks to the publishers for providing these review copies.