Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World

by Caroline Alexander

From the NYT bestelling author, a breathtaking account of combat and survival in one of the most brutally challenging and rarely examined campaigns of World War II

In April 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army steamrolled through Burma, capturing the only ground route from India to China. Supplies to this critical zone would now have to come from India by air—meaning across the Himalayas, on the most hazardous air route in the world. SKIES OF THUNDER is a story of an epic human endeavor, in which Allied troops faced the monumental challenge of operating from airfields hacked from the jungle, and took on “the Hump,” the fearsome mountain barrier that defined the air route. They flew fickle, untested aircraft through monsoons and enemy fire, with inaccurate maps and only primitive navigation technology. The result was a litany of both deadly crashes and astonishing feats of survival. The most chaotic of all the war’s arenas, the China-Burma-India theater was further confused by the conflicting political interests of Roosevelt, Churchill and their demanding, nominal ally, Chiang Kai-shek.

Caroline Alexander, who wrote the defining books on Shackleton’s Endurance and Bligh's Bounty, is brilliant at probing what it takes to survive extreme circumstances. She has unearthed obscure memoirs and long-ignored records to give us the pilots’ and soldiers’ eye views of flying and combat, as well as honest portraits of commanders like the celebrated “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell and Claire Lee Chennault. She assesses the real contributions of units like the Flying Tigers, Merrill’s Marauders, and the British Chindits, who pioneered new and unconventional forms of warfare. Decisions in this theater exposed the fault-lines between the Allies—America and Britain, Britain and India, and ultimately and most fatefully between America and China, as FDR pressed to help the Chinese nationalists in order to forge a bond with China after the war.
A masterpiece of modern war history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military History, Aviation, War, Military Fiction

496 pages, Hardcover

Published May 14, 2024

About the author

Caroline Alexander has written for The New Yorker, Granta, Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, Outside, and National Geographic. She is the curator of "Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Expedition," an exhibition that opened at the American Museum of Natural History in March 1999. She lives on a farm in New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 4 out of 5]

And I thought Boeing was a mess. Then I read Caroline Alexander's Skies of Thunder and apparently it could be worse.

Alexander looks at an often ignored area of World War II which was the Burma/India/China theater. I have read a lot of World War II books and the missions talked about in this book are, at best, footnotes in most others. Alexander also paints a very clear picture of why! The entire theater was a mess of egos, bad planning, extreme danger, and negligible effects on World War II as a whole. The book can be broken down into two stories. One is much stronger than the other.

The weaker story is everything that is not about the pilots and missions over "the Hump." The ground missions and personality conflicts take up a large portion of the narrative and it does not have the narrative propulsion by itself. Alexander is a gifted writer and she never skimps on the research. For this part of the story, however, I wish she would have shortened it just a bit. I wasn't mad or tempted to skim, but I wanted to get back to the pilots fighting their planes. Yes, I mean fighting their planes.

Pilots flying over "the Hump" were clearly in a catch-22 situation. Only crazy people would do it, but if you are scared of flying then you are clearly not crazy. Alexander's story truly soars (pun intended!) in these sections. She weaves in the pilot's words and gives context for the nightmare that was these flights. The section on "That Night" is a perfect encapsulation of riveting writing. If you enjoy World War II stories at all, then this should be on your shelf.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Viking Books.)

[Dax · Rating 3 out of 5]

Burma is a WWII theater that is often overlooked. Alexander's book is an impressive display of research, particularly with regards to airmen's experiences flying over the hump. These stories were my favorite aspect of the book. Alexander also conducts multiple character studies on the prominent military men of the campaign as well as political leaders such as Chiang Kai-shek. She wraps up the book with an analysis of the effectiveness of the Ledo Road and air supply campaign of Burma. Fans of WWII history will much appreciate 'Skies of Thunder'. Those less familiar with the history of the war might want to start elsewhere, maybe with Atkinson's WWII trilogy, which is fantastic. Very good book. High three stars or low four.

[happy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of the aerial supply of China via air bases in Eastern India, Assam, to newly constructed air fields in western China around the city of Kunming. It wasn't very long, only about 250 - 300 miles, but they were operating in very, very bad flying conditions. At one point in '43 the aircraft loss rate was comparable to that of the 8th AF over Europe. That said very, very few a/c were lost to Japanese fighters.

A couple of memorable stories - Hap Arnold almost died flying the route in early 1943. Apparently the crew forgot to go on oxygen when they climbed to over 19K ft, got apoxia and because of that lost. What was supposed to a 2 1/2 flight turned into a 5 hr flight and they landed almost out of gas.

Another "celebrity" who had a memorable experience on the "Hump" was the correspondent Eric Sevareid. Those of us of a certain age will remember him from CBS news. He ended up bailing out when his a/c lost both engines over Burma and he had to walk out of the Jungle.

In addition to the crews, the author looks at the aircraft that the crews flew. To say it was inadequate in an understatement. At the start of the airlift, the aircraft were mainly variations of the DC-3, the C-47 and a type I'd never heard of before, the C-53. The difference is that the C-47 was optimized for cargo and the C-53 for passengers. The payload of the C-47 was only 2 1/2 tons and FDR and promised Chiang 10,000 tons of supplies a month. The C-46 was quickly added to the fleet. Though it could carry twice as much as the C-47, it was new and very buggy. It had engine problems, tended to leak fuel, thus tended to blow up in flight, and it's deicing capabilities were not up to the conditions. The cargo variant of the B-24, the C-87, was also added to the fleet, but if anything it was worse than the C-46. The first 6 a/c were lost in the first couple of months of operations.

There was a reason the loss rate was so high. The actual flying conditions were awful. There were no navigational aids, one pilot described flying the route at night as "flying into an ink bottle." When crews flew over the southern Himalayas, the winds could be hellacious. Pilots could encounter down drafts that would drop their a/c 6000 ft in a minute or updrafts with same effect. That doesn't take into account head or tail winds, which were also memorable. Another reason for a/c losses was that fuel loads were kept to an absolute minimum in order to maximize cargo. Often crews would arrive at their destinations with just minutes of fuel left in their tanks.

Finally, the reasons for the whole enterprise are laid out. Basically FDR wanted to keep China and thus Chiang in the war and was willing to promise him anything to do it, even if it was out of the capabilities of his forces. This led to overworking both crews and their equipment and losses to both.

The British attitude to this whole effort is also discussed - they were halfhearted at best. They didn't see any possible rewards with Chiang, but were willing to go along to get Burma back.

Stilwell's and Chennault’s rivalry is also explored as well as ground operations in Burma and the aerial resupply of special forces, both the British Chindits and the American Marauders.

All in all the authors’ style can be a bit dry and academic, but the story in fantastic! I would rate it a solid 4 stars

[Frank Lodato · Rating 5 out of 5]

A skilled and detailed compilation of the clash of egos and ulterior motives of the various allied commanders in the Burma theatre as well as the stoic perseverance of the airmen and ground support personnel involved in the campaign to “Fly the Hump”.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maps could have been better. No photographs. Great narrative with Alexander as always. This book is about more than just "The Hump." It's an excellent summary of the CBI campaign. She connects the dots and expertly weaves the anecdotal, eccentric with the strategic big picture. Over six hundred aircraft and 1,700 flight crew were lost . And all for nothing too. This was more a political campaign than a strategic one. Chiang had hoodwinked America. He was nothing more than a corrupt warlord with whimsical and self-absorbed demands.

The CBI has always fascinated me with its lushness, remoteness, and allure. I came away with my respect and admiration for Slim validated but disdain and contempt for: Stilwell, Chennault, and Chiang Kai-shek. Some startling takeaways for me:

Transport crews were not cohesive. Every flight was a different crew. Didn't know who you would be flying with! Absolutely insane. The weather was to be feared!

Stilwell was instructed to plan for the elimination of Chiang Kai-shek.

Absolutely amazing joint ops between American air and the British Chindits. Can do spirit was something rarely witnessed. Close air support and medevacs as well as glider ops. So much innovation and superior airmanship.

Building the Ledo Road was a waste of time. More a psychological and political symbol. Air supply hauled more than ground supply. By the time the road was completed it was not needed.

Stilwell instead of evacuating by air from Burma to India from which he could command and control went out by ground. Took longer. Lost situational awareness. Macho propaganda. Loathed the British more than the Japanese at times. He showed no respect for Merrill's Marauders or the Chindits. Working them beyond the limits of human endurance. Stilwell was actually declared persona non grata by British forces and Merrill's men would have shot him on sight. Alexander points out that even the ruthless Japanese generals showed more compassion for their men than Stilwell.

[Steven Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The term “Over the Hump” is a concept that seems lost to history. When applied properly it embodies the American effort to supply the Nationalist Chinese weapons and supplies to combat the Japanese army which by 1942 invaded Burma and captured and cut off the only ground route into China. The only way to offset Japanese progress was to supply the Nationalist Chinese by air flying over the Himalayas from India.

In her latest book, Caroline Alexander the bestselling author of THE ENDURANCE: SHACKELTON’S LEGENDARY ATLANTIC EXPEDITION and THE BOUNTY: THE TRUE STORY OF THE MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY among other works has written an exceptionally detailed narrative and analysis of the American effort to thwart the Japanese describing the dangerous flights by inexperienced pilots over the Himalayas, discussing the diplomatic agenda of the United States, England, and China, along with insightful personality studies of men like General “Vinegar” Joe Stilwell, the American officer in charge of aid to China, General Chiang Kai-Shek the leader of Nationalist China, and Claire Lee Chennault, the American officer who commanded the “Flying Tigers.” The book entitled, SKIES OF THUNDER: THE DEADLY WORLD WAR II MISSION OVER THE ROOF OF THE WORLD focuses on the newly created infrastructure for the mission, training of pilots, and the hazardous flights they engaged in. Further, Alexander delves into the allied strategy of the China-Burma Theater (C.B.I.) which was complicated by the conflicting political and military interests of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and their unreliable ally, Chiang Kai-Shek.

For Alexander, the C.B.I. was the war’s “most complicated theater” and was driven by competing interests and contradictions that exposed the fault line between the allies. For many, C.B.I. translated to “confusion, beyond imagination.”

Alexander’s riveting new work begins with the allied defeat in Burma in April 1942 sealing off the ground corridor linking India and China. This would an “ariel Burma road” to supply Chiang’s troops and allied forces. According to Alexander’s research some 600 planes and 1700 American airmen would be lost flying over Burmese jungles and mountains.

Although the supply effort was deemed a military operation, its primary goal was political, not military, a result of President Roosevelt’s desire to retain the support and boost the moral of Chiang Kai-Shek and his government and ensure a close relationship between the United States and China as Washington wanted the Nationalists to become a major player in the post-war world. The British as Alexander develops throughout the monograph were not as supportive of FDR’s raison detre and actively worked to undermine the American approach. The tension “between the practical and symbolic purpose of the Hump operation was to persist throughout the war” – a dominant theme of Alexander’s work.

Early on Alexander introduces her argument that a united front to defeat Japan would be difficult to achieve. First, Chiang hated the Chinese Communist Party because they were the only group he was unable “to buy off, absorb, liquidate, or suppress…” Second, they were the only party that was gaining popular support. Third, Chiang believed the Chinese people were incapable of governing themselves. Lastly, and most importantly the Chinese army’s military strength was not applied against Japan despite American aid and encouragement and was held back due to Chiang’s belief of the coming civil war against the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong. In all areas, negotiation, his relationship with Stilwell, and his belief in his own destiny Chiang was the major impediment to try and defeat Japan.

Alexander’s book is well sourced and researched. She carefully explains the Japanese seizure of Burma entering Rangoon in March 1942. The chaos that resulted was due to British General Archibald Wavell’s belief that the Japanese would never invade Burma through Rangoon. Alexander carefully recounts the horrors Burmese refugees suffered trying to escape the Japanese invasion through monsoons that fostered torrential rains and muddy roads.

A strength of the author is her focus on the major players in the conflict, exploring the pilot’s experiences, and the results of American efforts. Prominent figures like General “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell are examined carefully. His relationship with Chiang Kai-Shek was terrible which impacted US policy, Stilwell’s relationship with General George C. Marshall, and President Roosevelt are keys to Alexander’s analysis. In the end Stilwell’s off-putting personality, ego, and strong beliefs would lead to his recall from China in 1944 due to Chiang’s request. Marshall’s description of Stilwell as being “his own worst enemy….his pathological tactlessness and rudeness was a major factor in the troubles he had in China.” The role of Claire Lee Chennault is also vital to the story of who would contribute to the conflict and the confusion that vexed the C.B.I. theater. Over the course of the war, Chennault’s own propaganda machine increased his reputation and the air assets he commanded. He would gain great notoriety in the United States, but in the end according to the author his contribution to the success of the Burma theater is debatable. Alexander’s criticism of Roosevelt is warranted as his view of Chiang was unrealistic. His belief in his own powers of persuasion were misguided as was his evaluation and ignorance of the key logistical facts of supplying Chiang’s forces. His approach would be very detrimental to the men who built the facilities and the pilots who carried out the Burma mission. Roosevelt’s belief and promises in the amount of tonnage of supplies that could be delivered were impracticable.

Other prominent figures that are discussed include Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, the British commander in Burma who did not get along with Stilwell and also demanded his replacement. General Henery “Hap” Arnold, the commander of the US Air Force, British General Orde Charles Wingate, 1st Air Commander Philip Cochran, General William Slim, General Frank Merrill, among others who receive extensive coverage.

To Alexander’s credit her focus is not only on influential figures. Her descriptions of the many pilots and the weather, topography, equipment failures are exceptional. Descriptions of the environmental hazards faced by pilots are fully warranted. Weather was the most onerous aspect of flying over the Himalayas. Monsoons, ice formations, thunderstorms, jungles, mountain peaks, deserts, sandstorms all had to be overcome. Further, training could be spotty. Many pilots lacked the experience needed to confront and overcome all of the obstacles in flying and delivering their cargo. With Chiang threatening to leave the war many pilots were rushed into situations for which they were unprepared. Many of the pilots lacked any combat experience and were psychologically and mentally ill equipped to deal with the dangers they faced. The result was misreading instrument failures, the situation they found themselves confronted with, the performance of their aircraft etc. resulting in bailing out when not necessary, crashing their planes when conditions did not fully explain what had occurred. Alexander’s account puts the reader in the cockpit with pilots as they had to cope with balancing their own survival and completing their missions.

To sum up Alexander does a wonderful job telling the story of the men who risked their lives dealing with brutal terrain and horrific weather conditions to keep China in World War II. While Alexander devotes a great deal of time explaining strategic and political issues, her interest lies primarily on the variations of individual human personalities. The author tells, through clear and engaging narrative, the story of the pilots in the planes to the level of campaign overview, sometimes really from 30,000 feet.

Perhaps historian Elizabth D. Samet describes Alexander’s effort the best; “Ultimately, and rightly, the pilots — intrepid as “sailors of old” crossing “unknown oceans” — are the core of the book. Demeaned as “Hump drivers,” ostensible noncombatants at the bottom of the aviation hierarchy, they flew an inadequately charted route over baffling terrain, its surreality intensified by their frequent refusal to wear oxygen masks.

Alexander adroitly explicates technical concepts — flight mechanics, de-icing, night vision — but is at her best rendering pilots’ fear. Besides terrain, its sources included weather, enemy aircraft, insufficient training, night missions and “short rations of fuel” on the return leg. At least a pilot could depend on his plane, the beloved Douglas C-47 Skytrain, until the introduction of unreliable or unsound higher-capacity models turned the machines themselves into another source of terror.
Readers thrilled by sagas of flight will marvel at the logistics required to transport a stunning 650,000 tons of cargo by air, the audacity required to fly the Hump, the search-and-rescue operations necessitated by its hazards and the experimental use of aviation involved in the Allied recapture of Burma in 1944.

They will also have to reckon with Alexander’s hard-nosed conclusions about the C.B.I. Others who have chronicled its history concentrated on the strategic merits of this deeply imperfect theater or celebrated its pioneering use of air power.
The image that dominates the end of Alexander’s epic is “the aluminum trail” of wreckage — “the hundreds of crashed aircraft that still lie undiscovered in the jungles, valleys and fractured ranges beneath the Hump’s old route.”*

*Elisabeth D. Samet. ”The Scrappy World War II Pilots Who Took Flight for a Perilous Mission.” New York Times, May 14, 2024.

[Bill Kupersmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The four-star rating is not a judgment on the author’s research and presentation, but the confused subject. The Burma campaigns (the plural is appropriate) themselves were utterly incoherent. Both America and Britain were fighting the Japanese, but mostly on different fronts. Britain was fighting to recover her Empire (which Franklin Roosevelt wanted to destroy). The Americans were doing little actual fighting but making a huge logistical effort to aid the Chinese (whom Britain regarded as useless). The American commander, General Stillwell, despised most British leaders (though he managed to get on with Mountbatten) as well as his nominal superior Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, the President of China. Roosevelt fancied Chiang an allied leader on par with Churchill and Stalin, slated to be one of the “four policemen” to insure the peace in the post-war order. The American plan was to open the road through Burma to supply Chiang’s forces, who were supposed to be fighting the Japanese invaders, as well as to build airfields for American bombers to attack the Japanese home islands. To accomplish this, the American Army Air Force was trying to supply the Chinese by air, flying over the Himalayas, “the hump,” from India.

Like most young folk, I was fascinated by the bomber campaign and the aircraft, B-17s and B-24s, as well as the Halifax and the Lancaster, but in my childish ignorance imagined being a transport pilot as about as heroic as driving a Greyhound bus. But these missions were utterly terrifying. The weather was terrible, with sudden violent storms, few navigational aids, clapped out aircrafts, and if one had to bail out impenetrable jungle below full of loathsome creatures. Fortunately the Burmese tribesmen were friendly, though head-hunters they hated the Japanese. And while some of the American pilots were experienced airline captains, most were straight out of flight school and hardly at the head of the class. At their home base in India there was a herpetological zoo to familiarize them with the venomous local fauna. I doubt that made the prospect of parachuting into the jungle any more inviting. Even worse, scratch crews flew whatever aircraft were assigned, unlike in bomber squadrons where the same crew flew together in the same aircraft and learned to support and trust each other. Though the transport pilots were seldom attacked by Japanese fighters and ack-ack, the terrain and weather made their missions horrific. And when they completed their mission, unlike bomber crews in England, there was no motoring to the pub and dates with the local girls. Their facilities in India were sparse, uncomfortable, hot, and boring. What they encountered in China was worse.

The aircraft were the C-47 or Dakota in British service, the military cargo version of the DC-3 airliner and though scarcely glamorous, probably the greatest development in aviation history. But its cargo capacity was limited. I’ve always been fascinated by the C-46 though I’ve never encountered one in airline service. It looks like a grown-up C-47, but unfortunately it proved unreliable, though you might still find one flying arms into or opium out of some jungle airstrip. There was also the C-87, a hastily cobbled together cargo version of the B-24 whose high aspect-ratio wings lacked lift and flew even worse than its bomber original.

British objectives were totally different, to recapture Rangoon and recover Malaya and Singapore. I have already given my views on the British campaign in reviews of The Unforgettable Army: Slim's XIVth Army in Burma by Michael Hickey and Lions in the Jungle: Wingate & the Chindits’ Contribution to the Burma Victory: February 1943 – August 1944 by Martin Sambrook, on Goodreads. Amusingly, the level of cooperation between the American Air Force Colonel Phil Cochran and the creator of the Chindits Orde Wingate is one of brightest accomplishments in the history of Anglo-American relations, much better than between the British Army and the RAF and infinitely superior to how the Americans got on with the Chinese. Despite optimistic American plans for the re-equipped and re-trained Chinese army pushing the Japanese to the sea, the real state of affairs was different. Chiang’s forces and the Japanese were observing a tacit cease-fire. Chiang was hoarding the supplies the Americans delivered at such cost for the impending civil war with the Communists. (Some later to be used by the enemy in Korea and Vietnam.) Neither neutralist India nor authoritarian Myanmar (as its rulers now insist we call it, though I notice their exiled and jailed opponents still use the traditional name), nor of course Communist China, turned out to remotely resemble what either the American or the British wartime leaders expected. But that does not mean we should forget the bravery and sacrifice of the Americans and of the men of the British Empire who fought in that remote theatre.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book chronicles the daring and dangerous flights over the Himalayan foothills, where Allied pilots faced extreme conditions while transporting crucial supplies to China. The author details the technical aspects of the mission, the resilience of the pilots, and the challenges posed by weather, terrain, and enemy forces. Surprisingly, the last quarter of the book leaves the air campaign, and follows the Allied attacks in Burma aimed at trying to reopen the Ledo Road.
In the end, the cost of the air campaign as measured against the Chinese war effort, calls in to question whether it was worth it. 3.5 stars.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This being Caroline Alexander, none of this will be a surprise. This book is thoroughly researched, with copious notes, and stories beautifully told. It follows in the same vein as The Bounty my all time favorite read.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a fan of Caroline Alexander and already own 4 of her prior books. Especially loved "The Bounty" and her story of Ernest Shackleton and "The Endurance." This one was on my birthday wish list and lo and behold I won a free copy from Goodreads. I just started it in early May and not yet finished but I greatly enjoy stories about the people who served in WW2. This is the little known story of the pilots and crew of the 10th AirForce who were tasked with flying "over the hump." The "hump" being the always dangerous and weather-beaten Himalayas. I highly recommend for history and military buffs and especially WW2 history.

[Helena Schrader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive, meticulously researched, and well-written

The China, Burma, India (CBI) theatre of war in WWII was known as the "forgotten war" even as it was raging and consuming lives. Both during the war and afterwards, it was constantly overshadowed by the vicious fighting and then the spectacular victories in Europe and the Pacific. Yet it is a dramatic story worthy of far more attention and "Skies of Thunder" makes a major contribution to shining more light on this chapter of history. Although the title, "Skies of Thunder," suggests the book focuses on the herculean Allied efforts to airlift vitally needed supplies from India to China over "the Hump," it actually has a wider lens. Thus, it provides a more comprehensive account of this theatre of war, including the issues at state, the personalities involved, the geographical framework and the challenges these combined to create. Highly recommended.

[Megan (inkand.imagination) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely an interesting book, if a bit dry at times. I really enjoyed learning more about an area of WWII that wasn’t talked about in my history classes, and one that isn’t featured much in movies or documentaries. I loved how in-depth this book went into the dangers that the pilots faced and how they overcame them.

I did feel like some parts of the book dragged on a bit, but I’m not someone who reads a whole lot of nonfiction, so that may have been why portions of this book felt a bit dry. I’m definitely grateful to have read this one, though, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys nonfiction WWII history.

[Gary Allen, PhD · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wanders all over the place. Your reading about reads then about airplanes then about local natives then about snakes. I wanted to read about flying and there isn’t much of that.

[Cropredy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars; not quite 5 stars as I didn't stay up past my bedtime but a remarkably interesting book.

This book exceeded my expectations. Something I remarked on to myself multiple times across the 400+ pages.

We all know that supplies were flown in over the high mountain ranges between India and China after the "famous" Burma Road was severed following the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942 (actually, capturing Rangoon was all that was required as supplies came in by ship then were transported by rail to the Burma Road's railhead)

So, I was expecting a story of lumbering C-47s flying in fearful weather into China. Crashes, icing, more crashes. As 1942 folded into 1943, then 1944, then 1945, I expected to read about increased tonnage. And many a story of heroism over inclement conditions.

So, you get all that but so much more and this is what made the book interesting

* The building of the Burma Road, starting in 1937. This is hardly ever described in WWII histories, the Burma Road is just assumed. It came into being after the Japanese cut off China from its seaports.

* The retreat from Burma in appalling terrain (1942). Not really part of flying the Hump but scene setting.

* Descriptions of the pluses and minuses of the three main aircraft that flew the Hump: C-47, C-46, and C-87 (cargo version of the Liberator)

* An incredible story of a C-46 where the passengers had to bail out into the Burmese jungle. One of those passengers was Eric Sevareid, the famous correspondent! His memoir of their travails is gripping.

* Long diversions into the Chindits, Merrill's Marauders, and Stilwell's northern Burma offensive to construct the Ledo Road from Assam to China so the costly Hump air crossings could be replaced by ground transport (things didn't turn out as expected).

* Great descriptions of the unsatisfactory conditions in the Assam bases leading to poor morale.

* A court martial of a flyer who simply refused to fly the Hump anymore

* The experience of African American construction engineers who built the Ledo Road - and of course, the discrimination and belittlement they faced by Army brass.

* Accounts of what it was like for the American base forces in Kunming China where thievery was rampant and peasant life was cheap. This is almost never described in WW II histories

* The politicking between Stilwell (who hated the British and Chiang Kai-Shek), Chennault (an early "I alone can fix it" man), Mountbatten, Roosevelt, Arnold, and sundry others. It took until 1944 before a change in leadership in the Air Transport Command (CBI Theatre) was able to reduce the accident rate and improve morale.

A few things startled me:

* It was well-known at the time that a vast portion of the supplies flown over the Hump ended up stolen and put on the black market; sometimes even resold to the Japanese! But nobody seemed to care. It is very opaque to me if the Nationalist Chinese even had a strategy to win the war rather than a strategy to accumulate supplies for the inevitable civil war with the Communists. The author leaves it as an open question if initiating the Hump supply route actually would have made any difference in the Pacific War outcome (i.e. if the Nationalists collapsed, the Japanese would still have had to devote resources to occupation)

* The tonnage flown increased from 1000-2000 tons per month in mid 1942 to 35,000 tons per month in December 1944 - increased for a lot of reasons, notably the capture of the Myitkina airport in north central Burma that meant less time spent flying over high altitude and hence less severe weather. November 1944 saw a fully-loaded plane land in China every 5 minutes!

* In general, pilots made a round-trip between India and China the same day! And with weather forecasts only as good as the last pilot to have landed could deliver.

* There was a pretty aggressive search-and-rescue operation to get back the survivors who had bailed out. Friendly indigenous people helped considerably. All despite snakes, insects, and even tigers. Oh, and the monsoon.

* The Ledo Road was one-way into China so the trucks that drove into China stayed there! No reverse traffic.

At times, I felt Alexander was wandering off the topic by doing deep dives into ground campaigns in Burma. But it was these ground campaigns that gave rise to flying the Hump (inefficiently at first) and much more efficiently after Myitkina was recaptured. She decided you can't really tell the story of the Hump without telling the story of the closed, then reopened road to China. And these diversions were always interesting. I also think she decided that the reader would get bored reading one white knuckle account after another of an iced-up C-47 flying in darkness.

There are three maps (no list of maps in the Table of Contents so peek ahead to page 66 while reading pages 1-65). Alexander gets high marks for the maps always having the place names mentioned in the text.

Astoundingly, no photos. Some charts of tonnage flown, accidents, and the like over time would have been useful.

I don't know if this is the best book on the Hump but if you're new to the subject, you can't go wrong here. There was plenty of interesting context for me (it has been a very long time since I read Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45, Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945, and some book on Imphal/Kohima that I can't remember the title

[Chuck Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging true stories of the efforts of the US, British, Burmese and Chinese to supply the Chinese and defeat the invading Japanese in WW II. Set in some of the densest jungle and most fearsome Himalayas, it is a gripping tale of bravery, endurance, politicians,aircraft and horrible weather Thoroughly researched and documented

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the fall of 1967 as a sophomore at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota I was privileged to participate in the Term in Thailand with 25 other students. We studied at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok - Buddhism, Southeast Asian history, art, literature, and political science. On the way to Bangkok we visited Japan and Hong Kong. Coming home included stops in Penang, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Guam. We were the only undergraduate study group in Southeast Asia - the closest program was in Japan. I have been an avid reader of World War II history and literature for more than 60 years. My father and most of my uncles served in the war in many roles - as a tank driver in Patton's army, a tail gunner who was killed over Germany, and a medic in the Pacific Theater. Ironically given the topic of this book my father wanted to volunteer to drive the Burma Road before Pearl Harbor and the entry of the U. S. in WWII.
I think he had a death wish!!!! .... My reading, however, has largely been within the European Theater of operations. About 2 years ago I had a "DUH" moment. Why was I not reading about the Pacific War when I had visited so many important sites in that history?? I am trying to make up for my lack of knowledge. The following are the most significant books that I have read in that effort: "The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941-42" Bill Yenn "Building the Death Railway: The Ordeal of American Pows in Burma, 1942-1945" Robert S. LaForte "Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia" Gary J. Bass "82 Days on Okinawa: One American's Unforgettable Firsthand Account of the Pacific War's Greatest Battle" Art Shaw "140 Days to Hiroshima: The Story of Japan's Last Chance to Avert Armageddon" David Dean Barrett "Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945" Ian W. Toll "The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945" James D. Hornfischer "Thailand and Japan's Southern Advance, 1940-1945" E. Bruce Reynolds "Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal" James D. Hornfischer "The Rising Sun: The Decline & Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-45" John Toland "Lightning Strike: The Secret Mission to Kill Admiral Yamamoto and Avenge Pearl Harbor" by Donald A. Davis. I have had the privilege to stand on Omaha Beach, walk through the Normandy American Cemetery, and peer out through the slot at the front of a German heavy gun emplacement ( the weapon has been removed ) on Pont du Hoc. I have visited two locations of horror and death at the hands of the Japanese. The first is the bridge over the river Kwai at Kanchanaburi, Thailand. With an enormous pool of captive labor at their disposal, the Japanese forced approximately 200,000 Asian conscripts and over 60,000 Allied POWs to construct the Burma Railway. Among the Allied POWs were some 30,000 British, 13,000 Australians, 18,000 Dutch, and 700 Americans. Of the US personnel forced to work on the railway, 133 died. (Their remains were expatriated. ) This included personnel from USS Houston and the 131st Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard. The Americans were called the Lost Battalion as their fate was unknown to the United States for years after their capture. Near the bridge is the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, the main prisoner of war (POW) cemetery for victims of Japanese imprisonment while building the Burma Railway. . The cemetery contains 6,982 graves of British, Australian and Dutch prisoners of war, of whom 6,858 have been identified. I have walked through that cemetery and always remember the peace and beauty of the bougainvillea, and the graves and graves and graves. After contemplating the devastating loss of life in WWII, we were standing on the railroad bridge over the River Kwai when 3 American jets made a low pass - coming from or heading to Vietnam. Remember this was the fall of 1967. The Tet Offensive would be in the spring of 1968. I could not help but think of the new waste of lives and the fact that we never learn. I still recommend the 1957 movie, "The Bridge on the River Kwai", starring William Holden and Alec Guinness . Although it is not completely factual, it does capture the hardship of the slave labor to build the railway. Ironically upon awakening on our first day in Tokyo my roommate and I heard the "Colonel Bogey March" which was the theme song from the movie. We looked down upon a lower roof and saw Japanese workers doing morning exercises to the music. We wondered if they had any idea that the music was associated with Japanese atrocities for us.. I have walked through Fort Santiago, the last building in old Manila liberated by the Americans during the recapture of the Philippines. It had been used as a prison/ torture chamber / death house and was found with literally hundreds if not thousands of dead bodies inside. The main entrance when I was there was broken and enlarged to permit American tanks to enter the fort. One of the most difficult books that I have read so far in my Pacific Theater education is "Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila" by James M. Scott. Yamashita, the "Tiger of Malaya" had ordered his army to retreat into the jungle highlands because he believed he could not defeat the Americans in Manila. Rear Admiral Iwabuchi Sanji defied Yamashita’s orders to withdraw from the city and utilized his 18,000 men to massacre thousands of Filipino civilians. This book is very painful as it has many first-person accounts of the murders and rapes. I have also had the privilege or having known a survivor of the Bataan Death March as a friend. He did not wish to speak in great detail, but the one thing that I have never forgotten was the role of other soldiers to protect their comrades. He explained that they always tried to walk in three's with the weakest man in the middle supported by two stonger men on each side.. Reading this book made me think about the airlines in which we flew in 1967 and 1968. Although our trip was arranged thru PanAm and we started out on a Boeing 707 - the biggest plane in the air at the time, we flew on Malaysia - Singapore Airlines ( created in 1966 ), Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, Japanese Airlines, and more. We flew on a Lockheed Electra into Kai Tac airport in Hong Kong just 3 months after the same plane had crashed at Lion's Head. The Thai Airlines DC-3 that flew us around Thailand gave us pause - I now know it was one of the safest airliners ever. A Fokker prop plane with the passenger windows below the wings took us into Kuala Lumpur where we were met by emergency vehicles.... There was no problem with the flight and we never learned why the crash system met us... We say Air America planes ( the CIA's airline ) everywhere we went and were a bit surprised when our pilot told us we were flying over Danan, Vietnam as we headed for Bangkok. Meanwhile back at this book..... I had been aware of "flying the hump" in my reading about the war in China and Burma, but I was surprised by some of the content of this book. The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), Navy (USN), and Marine Corps (USMC), and was commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. Due to complications, missions did not begin until after Pearl Harbor. I was surprised to find that its "history" was more myth than reality. China suffered greatly at the hands of the Japanese. When the Doolittle raid bombed Tokyo there was no possiblity of the planes returning to the aircraft carrier so the flights attempted to land or crash landed in China. Of the 16 planes and 80 airmen who participated in the raid, all either crash-landed, were ditched, or crashed after their crews bailed out, with the single exception of Capt. York and his crew, who landed in the Soviet Union. Despite the loss of these 15 aircraft, 69 airmen escaped capture or death, with only three killed in action. In reprisal for the raid, the Japanese launched the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign, killing 250,000 civilians and 70,000 soldiers. It is sad to think of China as an important ally in WWII when our relationship is so tenuous now. One of the goals of the flights described in the book was to help the Nationaists achieve power. It did not work. Was the loss of 700 Allied planes crashed or shot down and 1,200 airmen worth the outcome??? My personal answer is that supporting the war in China kept hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers occupied who might have been moved to the Philippines, the Pacific islands or Malaya against the Allied armies - mostly Americans. I enjoyed the book, but I think a bit of editing might have helped mitigate the repetition of accounts of the flights. Still recommend this book. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. It was good, but it was really a military and political history of the China Burma India WWII theater, less so an adventure story about a non-combat air campaign. So, the marketing is quite misleading.

Other issues - too few maps and the ones provided were incomplete and confusing (no army locations and invasion routes in a war campaign map?); topo map needed to show jungle v. mountains - and height differences of mountain ranges; no photos (really?); difficult to distinguish among the many generals and colonels.

I still found it interesting, and a good read, but it could have been really good.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early DNF.
The text was super dense, and without prior geographical knowledge and some very specific socio-economic understanding of 1930-40s Asia, it was incredibly difficult to get into.
I like World War II history as much as the next person, but this was a tough read. I don't think I'll be picking it up again, unfortunately.
You can tell the author poured their heart into this research, but the writing was pretty unfriendly for a casual read.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Interesting for the first hundred pages or so then mostly repeating variants of 1) dangerous flights, 2) inept leadership 3) political infighting and 4) Chinese nationalists scheming.
I’m sure if you have some close personal connection to these events it would be more interesting.

[Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of "Skies of Thunder" was quite interesting reading, about the hardships and perseverance required to airlift 10,000 tons of cargo from India over the Himalayas into China during World War II. The second half, focused on the minute details of trying to establish a land route for the same purpose, just bogged down for me, causing me to skim the last 60 pages.

[Damian Packer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unable to finish. Too much setup - no flying until page 54. Reads more like a textbook, long on details and short on story. I was hoping for a more Stephen Ambrose-like style.

[C. G. Telcontar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expanding my scant knowledge of the CBI Theater, Caroline Alexander provides a great blueprint for other current WW2 authors on how it's done and how to do it very, very well. Great organization, thorough examination of the many, many aspects of the airlift operation from India to China during the war -- its politics, its strategic importance to the war effort, the politicians, the generals and the men involved in making it happen, from humble origins to a humming machine in the final months of the war when its existence was meaningless to the outcome of the war. And the personalities -- FDR, Chiang Kai Shek, Stillwell, Claire Chennault, Waverly, George Marshall, Orde Wingate, Merrill, on and on. Anecdotes of terrible flights over the Hump, conditions in India and China, building the original Burma Road in the '30's and its human cost, the Japanese invasion of Burma and the subsequent refugee tragedy in '42, etc. A devoted chapter or two to the retaking of Burma in '44 and '45 which caught me by surprise, I was hardly expecting a campaign study in a book devoted to a years long airlift. Threw me off a bit and threatened to bog down at some points but she pulls it all together and by the end of it, it doesn't feel off topic or unnecessary baggage.

And she gets at some dirt not normally discussed, concerning certain persons such as Chennault and a string of whorehouses he and his son organized and ran in China during the later years of the war, grifting away quite happily while in uniform. I had never heard a whisper of that before. More detail on the insanity of Orde Wingate prior to his Burma adventures that puts him in a really dim light and shows once again that, for British officers, it really didn't matter how batshit crazy one might be so long as they came from a good family -- anything, I mean anything, would be tolerated from such individuals. His raids in Palestine and his misadventures in Egypt I wasn't aware of and it clearly shows the man ought to have been cashiered right then and there.

There's also the curious case of Stillwell and his dismissal, which Alexander puts in a new light, framing it as canny maneuvering from FDR to get rid of a troublesome and no longer useful tool, in the form of sending a letter to Chiang demanding far greater efforts to fight the Japanese as well as giving Stillwell ultimate control of all China's fighting forces, a demand that could not possibly be met. Chiang takes the insult at face value and demands Stillwell's relief, which FDR grants, having already given him the tombstone promotion (to full general) normally presented after a man's downfall in the military. This follows the previous meeting between Stillwell and FDR some time before when he ponders the further usefulness of Chiang to the war effort and gives Stillwell a free reign to find a new leader of China and dispose of Chiang -- license to kill. Stillwell debates with an officer about the merits of getting him on a plane flying the Hump on a pretext and dumping him out the cargo door but eventually decide there's no one else in China that's any better or more reliable than Chiang and they'd just be giving themselves a different kind of headache if they do it. Absolutely riveting.

Absorbing and well written, if you're a WW2 enthusiast this is an automatic need to read. The only thing I can knock her on writing wise is she is prone to the dreaded "In Other Words" dumbing down tactic I see far too often from authors when they are afraid they've thrown a curve ball their audience can't understand. It's insulting and unnecessary -- you could just dump the first part of that sentence you think the reader's not smart enough to ponder -- and simply insert the second half minus the "In Other Words" preamble of doom. She does it maybe half a dozen times and lets it go, happily. If you're a reader who likes to chase footnotes, you're in luck here. She does it old school, adding details to material she feels is in excess of what's needed for the main body of the story and some of them are very good including the nugget about Orde Wingate being the only person buried at Arlington National Cemetery that's not an American. It's worth chasing the notes.

The knock I'd put on Viking Publishing here is that after I listened to the audio I got the print version from my library to check the pictures and maps cause that's something I do and lo and behold -- there aren't any. At all. Ya gotta be kidding me, here. An obscure theater of WW2 with an airlift over the most daunting aerial route due to the Himalayas with the most challenging weather anywhere on the globe and you choose not to include a single map? Gross oversight. Curiously enough, a credit is given on the copyright page to a man for drawing maps. I don't get it. And then no photos, not a single photo, not even of one of the aircraft used in the operation? Huge fail.

Aside from those blemishes, don't sleep on this one -- it's great.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group Viking for an advance copy of this book that details the the Burma Theater during World War II, the difficulties in both supplying and dealing with weather and environment, the people involved and the events, much of which have been forgotten over time.

In war, one can't pick the environment. This can make moving one's forces difficult, it is hard to move troops in a monsoon, with water washing out roads, making waters to flooded to navigate, and ruining the landscape, making overhead flights confused about what they are flying over. Even today with GPS and satellites, these kind of conditions play havoc on health of one's troops, eat away at machines, and cause technology to just short. Supplying troops with food, water, ammunition, heavy weapons, and more importantly fuel, suddenly takes on a Sisyphean task. During World War II this is the situation that the Allies faced after the invasion of Burma from the Imperial Army of Japan. British and American troops suddenly found themselves trying to fight a war in jungles during monsoons. With the only way of equipping their army was by flying over the vast Himalayan mountains, area unmapped with weather that could bring down planes and crews, never to be found. Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World by Caroline Alexander is a look at this war theater, one not known to many, detailing the many obstacles, including mountains, Allied troops had to conquer to defeat the Japanese army.

In 1942 the Imperial Japanese Army had achieved goals that few had thought possible. Britain due to a mix of hubris and bad leadership was on the run, losing many ports, ships and colonies, along with some fabled cities. The fall of Burma, known today as Myanmar drove both the British, and Americans who were in the area in support of China, back to India, which at the time included Pakistan. Fearing that India was next to be invaded plans were made to bring the war back in the Burma Theater. Roosevelt promised the Chinese Government that America would provide supplies, men, fuel, and weapons. The how would be the problem. The path was through the Himalayas, where planes such as the DC-3 would have to fly higher, and more laden than was healthy to keep troops even close to supplied. This flights were dangerous because of the mountains, weather, and risk to planes. Along with the technical problems the author looks at the political situation, along with the many names who will be familiar, or infamous might be a better term.

I have read a lot of books about World War II, but I have not read one that spent this much time, or explanation about the Burma Campaign. One reads about the flights over "The Hump" as the mountains were called, but one does not get the idea who bad the situation was. And deadly. Alexander discusses both the technical issues, as well as the meteorology, ice forming on planes, the primitive deicing tools. The sound of chunks of ice hitting the plane. Alexander also has lots of stories about the pilots, the soldiers, even the politicians, which really gives the history a human touch. There is a tremendous amount of research, which never bogs down, or slows down the narrative. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and even better learned even more.

Recommended for readers of World War II history without a doubt. I know of few other books that spend the amount of time discussing Burma and the war there. A very interesting and well written book for anyone who likes history.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brings to light a dangerous and unglamorous portion of WW II. No trumpets, no drums, no headlines, no motivation, no decent living conditions, and ultimately no point, Ms Alexander explores the logistical nightmare that was the CBI. The majority of the book deals with the nuts and bolts of the crapshoot that was flying the hump (over 90% of the casualties were non-combat related) from the almost pitiful initial attempts (barely 2,000 tons a month) to pacify Chiang Kai Shek’s insatiable demands for American material to its ultimate zenith of delivering over 71,000 tons in July of 1945. The crews risked their lives through weather that was as hazardous as it was unpredictable over terrain that was a combination of prohibitively high mountains and unexplored jungle, with equipment maintained with chewing gum and baling wire. Living conditions were primitive, to say the least, and little was done in the way of maintain morale. The bravery and dedication of these pilots cannot be understated and there are numerous personal accounts that illustrate exactly what the crews had to go through to satisfy what was essentially little more than a political promise.

Woven through the narrative are somewhat brief outlines of the military campaigns and political infighting that served as both a backdrop and a raison d’etre for the missions. Suffice it to say that most of the high rollers here do not come off too well. Stillwell’s antipathy to the British, Chiang Kai Shek, as well as Claire Chennault is fairly well-documented. But the latter, as well as the reputation of the AVG (“Flying Tigers”) – later the 14th Air Force – also don’t come off well. Chennault over-promised and underdelivered to a considerable degree; the claims of his men have been considerably debunked. On top of that, he was apparently considerably involved in the burgeoning Black Market that inevitably derived from all the material. It has been estimated that almost half the material driven up the Burma Road and flown over the Hump ended up in places other than where they intended and thievery was endemic, both among the intended recipients and the crews that delivered them. And much of the equipment that did end up where it was supposed to sat idle or was horded away instead of being put to its intended use. As it happened, my father served in the CBI and told me a number of stories about how some crews got rich smuggling diverted material. He also made mention of the horrid living conditions of the crews and the incredible poverty of the Chinese people. What you read is not exaggerated.

None of this takes away from the incredible bravery of the crews that made these hyper-hazardous flights. The fact that much of this ended up being pointless. while being ironically tragic, does not detract one iota from this. The book is well-written and well-paced. You might think that some of the stories get repetitive but they don’t. As a combination of human interest and history, SKIES OF THUNDER hits the mark.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew little about the CBI (China - Burma - India) theater in WWII going into this book, and I think Ms. Alexander covers its non-naval aspects pretty widely. I hadn't realized the depth of the involvement of Allied operations there, aside from the famous air missions "over the hump."

English and American commanders had different goals for CBI operations after the fall of Burma to the Japanese in early 1942. President Roosevelt, and therefore the Americans, wanted to bolster the Nationalist Chinese under Chaing Kai-shek so that China might be used as a launching pad for attacks on the Japanese Navy and on Japan itself. Also, Roosevelt sought to position China to be a full post-war partner. The British, on the other hand, were concerned primarily with protecting India and, to a lesser extent, reclaiming Burma.

Ms. Alexander gives her highest praise to the American airmen who time and time again devised creative and effective solutions to the many obstacles hindering air transport and combat. Their almost indefatigable transport flights from India to China often bordered on the miraculous, and (lest it be forgot) served as the blueprint for the Berlin Air Lift after the war. There were also many heroic efforts on the ground, both within Burma and in India when the Japanese invaded overland in 1944.

By book's end, Ms. Alexander (like many of combatants) is ambivalent about Allied involvement in that theater. The air transport command carried thousands and thousands of tons of cargo into China, support Chaing and the Allies stationed in China. But Chaing was at best an unreliable partner, and it was often noted to much of the cargo lifted into China ended up on the black market. Plus, the American strategy of approaching Japan via island hopping greatly reduced the need for Allied staging areas on the Chinese east coast. India was protected, for sure, but England ended up exiting its colony shortly after the war in any event.

The author should be commended for not glossing over the costs of the war effort. She cites liberally from first-hand accounts of the death, loss, and injury witnessed and sustained through the war years. There were many diary and journal entries that were both gripping and well contextualized.

Still, I wonder if a better editor could have made this a much, much better book. I was left confused by some of the narrative ordering; some information given only later in the book might have led me to read earlier sections in a much different light. In the end, it's this disorganization (certainly not the material itself) that left me wanting for better.

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caroline Alexander's "Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World" is a riveting account of one of the most perilous and least-known theaters of World War II: the China-Burma-India (CBI) front. Alexander, renowned for her previous works on historical expeditions, brings her masterful storytelling to the harrowing tale of the Allied air supply mission over the Himalayas, known as "the Hump." The book vividly portrays the challenges faced by American airmen who flew treacherous routes to deliver crucial supplies to Allied forces in China. These pilots battled not only Japanese fighters but also the world's most unforgiving terrain and weather conditions. Alexander's prose brings to life the constant threat of ice formation on wings, violent wind currents, and the pitch-black darkness that often engulfed the crews. What sets "Skies of Thunder" apart is its comprehensive approach. While the aerial missions form the heart of the narrative, Alexander skillfully weaves in the broader context of the CBI theater. She introduces readers to a cast of colorful characters, from the mercurial Chiang Kai-shek to the cantankerous General Joseph Stillwell, providing a nuanced view of the complex political and military landscape. The author's meticulous research shines through in her detailed descriptions of flight mechanics and the brutal realities of jungle survival for downed airmen. Her interviews with veteran pilots add a layer of personal testimony that brings an immediacy to events that occurred over 80 years ago. Alexander doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of the campaign, including the staggering casualty rates and the often-overlooked contributions of local populations. Her use of primary sources and unpublished materials offers fresh insights into this underappreciated chapter of World War II history. While the book occasionally becomes bogged down in technical details, it remains an engrossing read. Alexander's "Skies of Thunder" is not just a military history; it's a testament to human endurance and sacrifice in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It's a worthy addition to any World War II enthusiast's library and a compelling introduction for those less familiar with this theater of the war.

[Stuart Bobb · Rating 3 out of 5]

What:
====
Getting large amounts of material (weapons, fuel, food, etc) from India into China was a strategy for a long time during WWII. After the fall of Burma, sending it by rail or truck was out of the question and by ship was equally impossible with the Japanese navy in the way. Thus, it had to be flown in - over one of the most dangerous regions you could possibly encounter with WWII era cargo planes. Welcome to, “the hump”.

The book does a good job of setting context. We get some insight into questions (and at least partial answers) to: Why was this deemed vital? Why was so much resource given to this pursuit? Was the US focus on Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalists really the right strategic move? The last question is arguably not fully settled decades later.

Borderline between 3 and 4 stars. It didn’t hold me as firmly in many chapters as it did in some.

Some High Points:
==============
The writing is good, the pace is engaging. We come away with a real sense of just how terrifying it must have been to make those flights in bad weather (and the weather was horrendous a lot of the time).


Reasons to Read:
==============
We get the context of what various parties (British, US, China, Japan, various groups in Burma) were all trying to accomplish.

Flying “the hump” is a side dish in so much other WWII history - here it is the main entree and the topic is worth reading about.

You’ll get a different (much less positive) view of “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell than given by Barbara Tuchman in “Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-1945”.

All three of Claire Lee Chennault, General Stillwell and Cheng Kai-shek come out of this book looking the worse for the study.


Reasons to Skip
==============
If you are expecting this is just about flying “the hump” you might be annoyed by the rest of the context of WW 2 in Burma and China

If you are a big fan of Joseph Stillwell, then - no doubt about it - your hero gets a lot of mud tossed his way. Same for the Flying Tigers - I came away thinking “the Lying Tigers” might be a much more accurate name.

[Bobby D · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a gift from one of my Grandchildren. I had not heard of it but noticed that the author, Caroline Alexander wrote a book I had read some time ago: THE BOUNTY. A book I had liked.
The subject here is marketed via the book’s title and subtitle to be about the Burma air mission flying over dense jungle from Burma to supply Chiang Kai-shek’s China. The route was called the “Hump”. In addition to the thick jungle, the Hump route took the planes over the Himalayas through terrible, unpredictable weather. The best part of the book gives names and missions to those downed crews via crash or bailing out and journey to find a way to survive. One passenger who jumped from a wounded plane was the famed journalist Eric Sevareid.
But here is what I would have liked to have known before reading the book. It is largely a full history of the Burma, the Burma Road, and China theaters and the various political and military leaders’ political impact on the work these pilots were ordered to do. Chiang Kai-shek is heavily featured and depicted (along with his wife) as paranoid incompetent, indecisive, and sometimes holding back his troops from fighting the Japanese. Roosevelt supported the missions and put heavy payload quotes mainly to please Chiank and to prop him up for after the war’s end. Roosevelt, as did, many distant leaders had no appreciation for what the environment in Northern Burma was like. Alexander also undermines the myth and legacies of Joe Stilwell and Claire Chennault and takes issue by giving the real contributions of units like the “Flying Tigers.” (Shall we say lots of propaganda.)
At the war’s end, a rough assessment showed that aircraft airlifted 776,532 tons over the “Hump”. This proved that air could be used as transport (think the Berlin Airlift later). One estimate is that 1,404 planes were lost or “totally wrecked” And between 1,659 to 3,861 crew were killed or missing. 1,200 survived bailouts over the mountains or jungle. (These numbers are incomplete because units did not keep records before June 1943.)
Bottom-line, the book is intended to give those who flew and maintained the planes that took on the “HUMP” their due. And that mission Alexander has accomplished.

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Audiobook) This work offers some insight into a part of World War II that doesn’t always get a lot of attention, but had its role to play in the conflict: The conflict in Southeast Asia, known as the CBI theater (China, Burma, India). Alexander takes the reader on a chronological journey of how the US and its air arm came to be engaged in that theater, from the Japanese occupation/invasion of the region to the final victory in 1945. It is a tough environment for the men that served, from the unforgiving physical geography of mountains and jungle, to the just as fraught man vs. man conflict, from engagements with the enemy and conflicts with the Allies. There is a lot of myth-busting where Chennault, Stilwell and Chang are concerned, as they all had their personal faults and frailties, yet they emerged as the dominant personalities of that theater.

Perhaps the strongest part of the work involves the tales from the rank-and-file soldiers and airmen that fought in that theater. As brutal as it was, it was also a chance for men to show what they could endure, and there are many a tale of strength of perseverance. Yet, there are just as many tales of racism, xenophobia and denigration of fellow men. Overall, a tough but key part of the war.

I have a bit of a personal connection to the CBI theater, as my grandfather flew in B-29s that launched missions over that part of the world. There isn’t a lot of talk about the bomber missions, but the ideas and experiences noted here sound like the few tales he told me about his experiences. Overall, a solid read. However, I have to knock the audiobook down a rating or so, mainly because how can you have a dude narrate a book written by a woman? You mean you couldn’t find a woman to be the audiobook reader. At this point in life, I tend to believe that whoever wrote a book, you should find someone who kinda sounds like said person. I.e. a woman writes the book, a woman narrates it. Dude writes the book, dude narrates it. Anyway, worth the read, even with my soapbox considerations.

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Skies of Thunder” is about the US Airlift of supplies from Assam in India to Yunnan (Kunming) in China, after Burma fell to the Japanese during the Second World War. It covers the stories of many of the incredible American pilots and crew that made these flights over the high altitude "Hump", possible.

I enjoyed the book as a large part of my adult life was in Southeast Asia and I’m attracted to the Region’s history. There is a memorial to the Flying Tigers in Chiang Mai Thailand, and I picked up the book to understand more about this.

Within a regional context, much of the Thai -Burma - Laos border (i.e., The Golden Triangle) is still underdeveloped and air travel there is very storied - even in post WWII and modern times with Air America operating there during the Vietnam War, and how Laos was served by Balkan Air flights when I travelled between Bangkok in Thailand and Vientiane in Laos, during the early 1990's.

(Note: The history of this period is complicated because Thailand opened its borders to the Japanese during WWII yet celebrated the Victory of the Allies over Japan. That ability to play both sides has helped ensure that Thailand has never been colonized or truly lost its independence – as it did in the late 19th and early 20th Century as it played the British off against the French to remain a neutral buffer state between the colonies of these great powers.

The book was well researched and well written. I found the stories of the individual crew members and how they struggled to be quite interesting.

As with many of my reviews, my main complaint that there were no photos and not enough maps in the book. I find that well placed visuals and photos can make the difference between a good book and a great book.

It is a good read, but not necessarily an exciting read. Solid but not outstanding.