Flight to Arras [B2117]

1985 PB with minor wear. The World War II French aviator and author of The Little Prince tells his true story of flying a reconnaissance plane during the Battle of France in 1940. When the Germans first invaded France in May of 1940, the French Air Force had a mere fifty reconnaissance crews, twenty-three of which served in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Group II/33. After only a few days, seventeen of the crews in Saint-Exupéry's unit had already perished. Flight to Arras is the harrowing story of a single mission over the French town of Arras, an endeavor Saint-Exupéry realized the futility of even as he witnessed it unfolding. Filled with tension, emotion, philosophy, and historical detail, and penned by a master storyteller, this extraordinary memoir serves as a record of a little-known chapter of the Second World War, and an unforgettable portrait of the brave souls who fought despite desperate odds.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Full of beautiful poetic prose. de Saint-Exupery explores the irony of being most alive when we face death. His musings are sublime and worth reading again and again and again."; "Pretty great. Really loved how the author could articulate his inner world of nostalgia and memory in relation to the present, in a way I felt like I could relate to."; "A deeply philosophical book written by a man who well understood what it was to risk his life for the greater good."; "Saint Exupery can really capture feelings and emotions with vivid descriptions. Learning about the French sentiment prior to German takeover was fascinating."