Grey Geese Calling, by W.M. Cleveland

Subtitled 'A History of the 11th Bombardment Group Heavy (H) in the Pacific, 1940-1945'

Published by the 11th Bombardment Group Association in 1981, 492 pages. Hardback with Dust Jacket - c.23cm by 30cm (A43N1WSO)

As stated on the title page: This book is a limited edition of 1000 copies. This book is Copy No. 880

From the inside fly leaf: Prepared from official sources and unofficial sources by: W. M. Cleveland, Editor Here for the first time ever, is the revealing day-to-day account of the activities of the famous 11 th Bomb­ ardment Group (H). From its incep­tion in February 1940 to V-J Day in 1945 this gallant group faced a bar­barian enemy. And now its story is told by the men who lived this frightful adventure and survived.

Many eye-witness and first-person accounts are drawn together to reveal the monumental obstacles of logistics, operations, weather, disease and the enemy through which these brave men flew their GREY GEESE to final victory.

They recovered from the frightful carnage of the Pearl Harbor attack at Hickam Field to eventually render exemplary service at the Battle of Midway with their magnif­icent Boeing Flying Fortresses. During 1941 and 1942 their long­ ranging B-17 Flying Forts patrolled the vast expanses of the great Pacific Ocean recording the presence of the enemy Japanese forces in strongly defended British, French and Mandated Islands. And along the farflung stretches of the air routes to the Orient, Java, and Australia they helped pioneer airways working with Pan American Airways Clipperships and flight crews.

We follow this Group from Hawaii and after Midway, on down the island chain to Fiji, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides and in to the Solomon Islands, Guadal­
canal, and up over Rabaul, New Britain. By March/April 1943 their war­ weary B-17s and their men were re­turned to Hawaii and replaced by B-24s and new, highly-spirited combat crews in time for the Group to raid Wake Island, Kwajalein Atoll and Tarawa. Operating from the Ellice Islands then the Gilberts and the Marshalls, this Group mounted its airborne attack along the Central Pacific battleways. From bases at Funafuti, Tarawa and Kwajalein they made Fortress Truk untenable. Their B-24's carried ever heavier bombloads into Truk, Iwo Jima and the mighty bastion of Okinawa. When the Marianas and the Ryukyus were their bases, they struck at important targets in China and the Japanese home islands came under their bombsights.

At Iwo and Chi Chi Jima supply ships of the enemy were denied ac­cess for the replenishment of those islands in the Bonins by use of aerial mines dropped from the Group's B-24s. These mines were decisive in the victory at Iwo. Just before the two atom bombs fell and V -J Day arrived, the Group hit mighty industrial and naval targets in Kyushu and Honshu, Japan, and leveled air bases on the mainland of China. Not without loss did these brave knights of the air traverse their route of destruction on 10 and 12 hour missions returning devastation and terror to the cornered enemy. Contains maps, cartoons, sketches, official reports, personal narratives, many photographs, a Bibliography and an Index.

The condition of the book is generally good. The dust jacket has some scuffs and blemishes (most noticeable along the bottom edge), and creasing and wear along the edges and corners, but the spine is intact and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.