This is both the only and definitive account of the rise and fall of a crucial arm of the German military machine from the first blitzkreig on Poland through the Battle of Britain to the final desperate stand over Germany. Bekker has drawn on official German archives and collections, combat journals and personal papers of leading officers and much other material unavailable outside Germany. The result is an astonishingly vivid account of a battle of wits and technology that inexorably tilted control of the skies away from the Third Reich. By the time the first jet fighters - the ME 262 - were designed neither the pilots to man them, nor the industry to make them, nor the oil fields to fuel them were available. The bombers and fighters of the Allies commanded the skies of the Reich. This is the story from the German side of how the most powerful air force in Europe was reduced to impotence in six years. It throws much new light on the Second World War. The lessons and methods of the war in the air remain to this day a matter of huge controversy.
Day-by-day account of a German fighter squadron, one of only two Luftwaffe units to spend the entire war in the West Covers D-Day and the Normandy campaign, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and more JG 26 was known as "The Abbeville Boys" and seen as an elite squadron Unit flew Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Focke-Wulf Fw 190s
This is volume two of a comprehensive history of the German World War II Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG26) unit. Volume two takes the JG26 from the beginning of 1943, when the American 8th Air Force first began to make its presence felt over occupied Europe, until the end of the war. During this period the Luftwaffe, with its JG26, began an inexorable decline, though the men of the JG26 unit continued to score successes over Normandy, Arnhem and the Ardennes. This book contains interviews with these men and provides a daily account of the wing's activities, using Allied records, radio intelligence, and post-war research, as only two of the 30 volumes of the unit's official diary survived the war. The book is based largely on primary documentation obtained from the unit's veterans and on material from the national archives of Germany and the UK and USAF Historical Research Agency. The volume provides information such as JG26 casualties, Allied victories, JG26 aerial victories and Allied victims.
* Comprehensive visual reference on the Third Reich's air force * Packed with photos, many of them rare and unavailable anywhere else * Shows aircraft on the ground and in the air, in combat and under repair * Essential resource for historians, researchers, and modelers Uwe Feist is a world-renowned expert on military weapons and equipment, especially those used by Germany in World War II. His previous works include Panther in Detail (978-1-930571-25-9) and Tiger I and Sturmtiger in Detail (978-1-930571-34-1). He lives in Bellingham, Washington. Thomas McGuirl also cowrote God, Honor, Fatherland (978-0-9657584-0-6).
Visual history of the German air force in World War II. • Hundreds of color and b/w images of pilots and crews, aircraft, uniforms, awards, sidearms, and more • Includes Stuka dive-bombers, Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters, and other planes • Must-have for historians, modelers, World War II buffs, and aviation enthusiasts
A Luftwaffe Bomber Pilot Remembers is a bomber pilot's story from his early life prior to the ascension of the Nazi Party to power in Germany, his education and rise through the ranks of the Luftwaffe as a decorated bomber pilot, and even through his demotion at the hands of G�ring late in the war. Also covered are Haeberlen's tribulations in a prisoner of war camp run by the Allies, and his success in post war Germany as a businessman. This book offers a unique first person perspective on the development of the war and its effect on those that were not in the highest realms of power.
Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 180 maps, plans, and photos. Gen Henry H. “Hap.” Arnold, US Army Air Forces (AAF) Chief of Staff during World War II, maintained diaries for his several journeys to various meetings and conferences throughout the conflict. Volume 1 introduces Hap Arnold, the setting for five of his journeys, the diaries he kept, and evaluations of those journeys and their consequences. General Arnold’s travels brought him into strategy meetings and personal conversations with virtually all leaders of Allied forces as well as many AAF troops around the world. He recorded his impressions, feelings, and expectations in his diaries. Maj Gen John W. Huston, USAF, retired, has captured the essence of Henry H. Hap Arnold—the man, the officer, the AAF chief, and his mission. Volume 2 encompasses General Arnold’s final seven journeys and the diaries he kept therein.
Day-by-day account of a German fighter squadron, one of only two Luftwaffe units to spend the entire war in the West Covers D-Day and the Normandy campaign, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and more JG 26 was known as "The Abbeville Boys" and seen as an elite squadron Unit flew Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Focke-Wulf Fw 190s
Aerial combat over the Russian front from one who knew it first hand. Hauptmann Helmut Lipferts vivid portrayal of his experiences in JG 52 during the last three years of the Second World War will stand as one of the truly classic chronicles of the Jagdwaffe over Russia.\nJG 52 Experten Walter Krupinski, Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn and Heinz Ewald make their way through Lipferts memoirs in an epic tale of combat over the Caucasus, Crimea, Hungary, and Rumania during the late war years of 1943-1945.\nLipfert begins the story with his early experiences in the Bf 109 G-2 over Russia in II/JG 52 in 1943, and ends with I/JG 53 in 1945 with 203 aerial victories, one of the few pilots in histiry to reach 200.\nThis book is a rare view into the air war over Russia, when Luftwaffe pilots accumulated incredible kill tallies while facing overwhelming odds against them in mass assaults.\nWerner Girbig is the author of Six Months to Oblivion-the Defeat of the Luftwaffe Fighter Force Over the Western Front 1944/45(available from Schiffer Military/Aviation History), and unit histories of JG 27 and JG 5.
I was born and raised in Germany. After my father’s death, my mother spent many winters with my husband and I here in Florida. During these visits, she and I transcribed my father’s World War II diaries into German from the old “Gabelsberger” shorthand, which only Mama was able to read. Subsequently, I translated them into English. These diaries fortunately were discovered by my sister Sigrid in the attic upon the sale of the old family home after my father’s passing in 1989. She felt Mama and I should translate these books for the family. At a later point many friends and acquaintances encouraged me, to publish this diary, to document his thoughts, experiences, and innermost feelings from the beginning of his conscripted military service in 1939 through 1946, when he returned home after being released from a French POW labor camp. During the latter part of 1946 and into 1947, an epilog describes his daily struggles to return to normalcy, the resumption of his teaching career, and the search for food to feed his family. He describes his touching love for his family, as well as his anger and hatred for the insane war and its inept leaders. A war, he was forced to participate in as an ordinary German soldier. Many times he naively commented very unfavorably, sometimes using “choice words” about Hitler, the Nazi Party, and his superiors, a risk, if found out, could have cost him his life. I myself have many memories of the war and its horrors as a little girl without a father, spending night after night in a bunker, the “liberation” of our small town by the Americans. This has left deep and lasting impressions on me. Later on, I met a wonderful American with whom I fell in love and married, with my father proudly walking me down the aisle. This, in spite of the resentment he held against Americans, for shamefully turning him over to the French as a forced labor POW. I remember his sadness, when his little “Murschel”, as he used to call me, left for America with his conviction that if he was lucky, he may be able to see me only once more during his lifetime. However, he was able to enjoy many trips to the United States and I with my family visited my parents often in Germany. After reading his legacy, I knew, I have my beloved father’s permission to share his writings with others, and by doing so, honor his memory.
