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Air War on the Eastern Front (9781612009087)


Mike

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Air War on the Eastern Front (9781612009087)

Casemate Publishers via Casemate UK

 

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Hitler was overwhelmed with hubris by the time the push west through Belgium and France had ended, and went full-tilt into opening up an Eastern Front with Soviet Russia in contravention of their non-aggression pact and against the advice of his generals.  It proved conclusively that you can’t trust the word of a psychopath, but Operation Barbarossa was remarkably successful initially, as it seemed to have caught Stalin (another crazy person) off-guard, and for a while he was difficult to contact as he withdrew in a funk.  When he eventually came out of hiding, he was able to mobilise the immense weight of Soviet forces, despite having gutted the leadership with frequent and deadly purges during the preceding years.  The Nazis came perilously close to the capital Moscow before the Soviet Juggernaut turned them around, but huge losses were suffered in the air and on the ground in the process.  The majority of the VVS (Soviet Air Force) that were in range were destroyed on the ground by the initial Luftwaffe raids, with over 60 airfields devastated and swiftly over-run by the unexpected Blitzkrieg tactics employed by the Germans.

 

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This new book from Casemate’s own publishing house is bound in a softback cover with half-width fold-out fly-leaves giving a synopsis of the contents in front, and details of the publisher at the rear.  It contains 128 pages of quality thin glossy paper, much of which is printed in black and white, with a number of pages in colour, including profiles and a few fascinating colour photos from the time.  The book follows the timeline of the campaign and then gives information about the key aircraft in the German and Soviet Air Forces, including the Lend/Lease aircraft given to the Russians by the Allies, with opinions from the pilots and their comparative merits in the captions as well as some of the aforementioned profiles for each type.  The book is laid out as follows:

 

Contents

Timeline of Events

Prelude to the Great Patriotic War

The Red Air Force

The Luftwaffe

Operation Barbarossa

Soviet Counteroffensives

Fall of the Fatherland

Aftermath

Further Reading

Index

 

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The photos are of the usual high quality, with a huge number of destroyed Soviet aircraft initially, plus some slightly grisly pictures of dead airmen in the snow, but as we progress through the book the weighting shifts toward the destruction of the Luftwaffe by grim attrition both of experienced pilots and their aircraft, which all became worn out and the latter also became short of fuel.  A short but poignant profile of a female Soviet pilot who flew against the Luftwaffe and sadly died in 1943 is given toward the end, and this is printed on a sombre blue background, as are some of the other profile pages of aircraft and squadrons throughout.

 

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Conclusion

This is a great visual synopsis of the invasion and retreat from Soviet Russia by the Nazis, and while there are other more detailed books out there (some of which are mentioned in the “Further Reading” section), it makes for an interesting summary from an aviation perspective, which is exactly its intention.  It's interesting to see how the Luftwaffe were defeated both by the resurgence of the Soviet Air Force (and army) and the lack of understanding of the situation by Göring and the Führer back in Berlin.

 

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