Military Review English Edition May-June 2016 | Page 147

BOOK REVIEWS

in the narrative (particularly in the chapter on intelligence collection and defense suppression), without
much context or background information. The reader
may be well served by reading Drone Warfare with
Wikipedia or having Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft at
the ready.
Another confusing approach is Drone Warfare’s
twin focus on UMA technological development
and operational impact. A significant portion of the
book is devoted to analyzing and refuting claims that
UMA strikes in tribal Pakistan incite further insurgent activity. Sloggett’s analysis is compelling, but the
lack of detail about the development of the UMAs
involved (such as the Predator and Reaper UMAs
used for these strikes) makes for head-scratching reading. In other areas, he makes overly broad
assertions about the impact of UMA operations on
military campaigns. His claim that a Vietnam-era
UMA that detected firing signals between enemy
radar and a surface-to-air missile was a “pivotal
moment” in the Vietnam War is particularly odd. It
is not exactly on the same tier as the commitment of
U.S. combat troops to South Vietnam in 1965 or the
Tet Offensive.
Despite its shortcomings, Drone Warfare is a fine
resource reference for the military scholar on UMAs,
which is an increasingly prominent topic among the
defense community and the public. Other similar
works, such as Richard Whittle’s Predator, may be
better written, but the breadth and scope of Sloggett’s
work is impressive—and much needed.

Jonathan Wong, Santa Monica, California

OPERATION THUNDERCLAP
AND THE BLACK MARCH: Two
World War II Stories from the
Unstoppable 91st Bomber Group
Richard Allison, Casemate, Philadelphia,
2014, 256 pages

T

his book examines th e impact on a personal
level of Operation Thunderclap and the Black
March. The two main characters are Addison
Bartush, a copilot for thirty-one missions with the 91st
Bomb Group for Operation Thunderclap, and Paul
MILITARY REVIEW  May-June 2016

Lynch, who was captured by the Germans on his first
mission and survived the “Black March.” Richard Allison,
based on extensive research, interviews, and the letters
that Addison Bartush was able to provide, created a look
through the eyes of both men into the final operations of
the 91st Bomber Group and ordeal of captivity suffered
by Allied service members from Germans.
This book tells the story of the two stories in vibrant detail from their training in the United States,
to include the formation of the Bishop crew, named
after pilot Dave Bishop. The author avoids made up
dialogue to liven up the book. Arriving in November
1944 at Bassingbourne Airfield in southwest England,
the Bishop crew began flying combat missions by
the end of the month. The policy was that new crew
members would fly with experienced crews before
getting assigned together as a complete crew. Bartush
filled in on 25 November with another crew as a
copilot and was not available for the 26 November
mission when German fighters downed the Wild
Hare, the aircraft that had a majority of the Bishop
crew assigned as replacements.
Allison alternates chapters between Bartush and
Lynch, describing their experiences. From Bartush’s
point of view, he examines the Combined Bomber
Offensive through the last year of the war against the
Germans and their European allies. He stresses the
Allies’ decision to use American aircraft to engage in
daytime area bombing as opposed to “precision” attacks.
He used destruction of Dresden as an example.
With Russians advanced into Poland, the Nazis
chose to attempt to evacuate Allied prisoners from
their prisoner of war camps and herd them on foot
into Germany. Paul Lynch was among more than
eight thousand prisoners held in Stalag Luft IV in
Poland who endured the Black March, a five hundred-mile march in sometimes whiteout conditions
with inadequate food and water, and no real plan in
place for the housing of the prisoners on the move.
Hundreds of the prisoners perished from starvation
and exposure to the elements; on average, the prisoners lost about one-third of their body weight.
The Russians would eventually liberate Paul
Lynch as the Third Reich collapsed. Allison discusses some the implications of the Yalta Conference
and the policy of forced repatriation of all prisoners
of war as part of the arrangement that resulted in
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