The 452nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Hardback)

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Among the very many accounts of the Second World War this book stands out and deserves to be widely read, not just because it sheds light on a little known fighting force that played a vital - if unsung - role in protecting the better known fighting formations from aerial attack, but also because of the light it sheds on an aspect of social history that reflects badly on the ‘land of the free’.

It’s not the reviewer’s job to summarise the account of Samuel de Korte over the part played by the 452nd AAA, or the wider discrimination experienced by black US servicemen in WW2; the details are set out clearly in the text. However, suffice to say that this book serves to highlight the casual and destructive attitude in the discrimination exhibited by many white servicemen at all levels and in all branches of the armed services.

De Korte also takes the reader on a journey through training and eventual deployment of the battalion in the ETO. If this reviewer’s experience is shared by others it’s likely that many readers will be surprised at the intensity of the engagements involving the different elements of the battalion, and the steadfastness displayed. Inevitably, based as it is on dry, official records, much of the latter part of the book is a long list of daily activities and engagements. Far from being uninteresting, however, this summary of the routine activities serves to emphasise the nature of the experiences shared by the servicemen involved.

A thoroughly recommended book.

NetGalley, Kevin Manley