Research Catalog

Title

The last mission of the Wham Bam boys : courage, tragedy, and justice in World War II / Gregory A. Freeman.

Author

Freeman, Gregory A.

Publication

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

x, 236 p. : ill., maps; 25 cm.

Summary

Tells the riveting story of a nine-man American bomber crew after they were forced to bail out over Germany in August, 1944. Quickly taken prisoner by a mob of angry farmers, shopkeepers, railroad workers, women, and children, the soldiers were marched into the nearby town of Russelsheim and assaulted with stones, bricks, and wooden clubs before being left for dead at the nearby cemetery. Drawing from trial records, government archives, interviews with family members, and personal letters, author Gregory A. Freeman follows two army officers charged with investigating the murders, and brings to life the dramatic story of how the depravations of war led the citizens of a sleepy German village to commit horrific acts.

Subject

• United States. Army Air Forces > Airmen
• World War, 1939-1945 > Atrocities > Rüsselsheim
• Lynching > Rüsselsheim
• World War, 1939-1945 > Aerial operations, American
• World War, 1939-1945 > Campaigns > Germany
• Bombing, Aerial > Moral and ethical aspects
• Civilians in war > Rüsselsheim
• Rüsselsheim (Germany) > History > 20th century

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [230]-233) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Black sorrow -- Dreams and nightmares -- Winding down -- Rookie run -- Welcoming -- Stations of the cross -- Running south -- Deep regret -- Investigations -- "I will reveal nothing" -- The trial -- A slip by the censor -- "It was not my task" -- "Conduct so brutal" -- Verdicts -- "Norm knew."

ISBN

• 9780230108547
• 0230108547

LCCN

^^2010044091

OCLC

672300075

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library