Swordfish The Story Of The Taranto Raid By David Wragg

Swordfish The Story Of The Taranto Raid By David Wragg describes one of the forgotten battles of World War II the attack on the Italian Mediterranean fleet. When the attack is mentioned it's usually described as a precursor to the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor however as the book describes it the Japanese were already war gameing the assault on Pearl before Taranto.

The description of the attack itself actually takes up a relatively small portion of the book. The book spends most of its time laying out the controversy over Naval aviation in Britain between the wars. There also is a detailed history of carrier development in the UK. Great detail is given to describing the backgrounds of the air crew that were involved in attacking the Italian ships in their biplanes.

An excellent work on a relatively forgotten battle. Considering the author's description of the battle this would make an excellent movie for Hollywood. A night assault lit up by flares and AAA.




For more WWII book reviews take a look at My World War II bookshelf.