Welcome to retired CIA officer and nonfiction author Mike Croissant's website. More than ten years ago, I set out on a quest to learn about my uncle, a World War II veteran who survived the conflict without a scratch but perished on his way home. My journey led me to one of the last, great untold stories of the war—the tale of the last mass bombing raid of the war in Europe. Drawing on interviews with dozens of America’s last remaining World War II veterans, archival materials, and previously unpublished accounts, my new book, Bombing Hitler's Hometown, explores the April 1945 aerial raid on military targets in Linz, Austria, the city Adolf Hitler claimed as his hometown.

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What did the men see, hear, and smell in the waves of bombers we now see only in black-and-white photos and videos? What was it like to go into battle in the thin, freezing air five miles above Earth? What was it like to be under the bombs? How did the survivors get on with their lives when the war ended? These questions are at the heart of my writing.

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Please check out my blog, which features stories of the final days of the air war in Europe. Please also follow me on social media for updates on my upcoming work.