Leon Wolff (September 2, 1914 – October 11, 1991)''California, Death Index, 1940-1997'' was an American historian who wrote '' In Flanders Fields: The 1917 Campaign''.

Biography

Wolff was born and raised in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in a Jewish family, the son of Abe Wolff, a traveling salesman, and Bessie Billow, a Russian emigrant. He graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, then served as a second lieutenant in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, he started a correspondence school, the Lincoln School of Practical Nursing, in Chicago. In 1953, he and his family moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he transplanted the business and cultivated his interests in golf and jazz. Wolff wrote four books over the next dozen years.Low-Level ''Mission'' (1957) described World War II's

Operation Tidal Wave Operation Tidal Wave was an air attack by bombers of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) based in Libya on nine oil refineries around Ploiești, Romania, on 1 August 1943, during World War II. It was a strategic bombing mission and part o ...

against the Ploești oil fields in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, by the US Army Air Forces. ''In Flanders Field: The 1917 Campaign'' (1958), an account of the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

offensive in 1917, otherwise known as the

Third Battle of Ypres The Third Battle of Ypres (; ; ), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( ), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front, from July to November 1917, f ...

, or Passchendaele. Wolff also wrote the Francis ParkmanPrize-winning-winning book ''Little Brown Brother'' (1961), originally subtitled ''How the United States Purchased and Pacified the Philippine Islands at the Century's Turn'', then wrote a final book, ''Lockout: The Story of the Homestead Strike of 1892'' (1965), about the eponymous steel strike at

Homestead, Pennsylvania Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Monongahela River southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The borough is known for the Homestead strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relation ...

. He died in Los Angeles in 1991.

References

1914 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American military historians American people of Russian-Jewish descent Historians from Illinois Historians of World War I American historians of World War II Jewish American historians Labor historians Northwestern University alumni United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Writers about activism and social change Writers from Chicago {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub