More than half of the U.S.'s aircraft losses in Europe in World War II
were due to German antiaircraft artillery, and many of the American
aircraft shot down by Luftwaffe fighters had first been driven out of
formation by flak and made easy prey for the fighters. A world away in
the Pacific, American flak guns aboard naval ships formed the last line
of defense against Japanese kamikazes. Historian Donald Nijboer relies
on firsthand accounts, newly discovered files, photos, diagrams, and
maps to reveal the forgotten contribution of flak in World War II, from
doctrine and tactics to combat stories on the ground and in the air
about what it was like to fly into the teeth of antiaircraft fire.