Luftwaffe: A History

by Harold Faber (Editor), Telford Taylor (Introduction)

At the beginning of World War II the German Air Force was considered the finest in the world. But was it? The Treaty of Versailles had condemned the German Air Force to a clandestine, embryonic life until 1933. But in 1935 the Nazi propaganda machine publicly acknowledged the Luftwaffe’s existence. And in only six years the charismatic Hermann Goering organized an officer corps and equipped an air force which managed to terrorize the other nations of Europe.

Germany’s bloodless conquest at Munich was achieved largely through fear of Goering’s bombers, and the Luftwaffe’s triumphs in Poland, Norway, Holland and even against the French were scored against feeble opposition. Advancing into Russia, the Germans made the critical discovery that their air force had no reach. They had created a tactical, not a strategic, air force that could do little to interrupt their enemies’ production and recovery.

Deficiencies in equipment and leadership on the Western Front (particularly during the Battle of Britain) brought disaster to the Luftwaffe, and turned its short-lived glory into a precipitous decline. The historic irony in the Allies’ miscalculation was that the Luftwaffe had reached its peak of effectiveness before World War II began.

In this fascinating book we are taken into the strange, self-defeating world of the Luftwaffe high command with all its colorful characters and the destructive interplay of its personalities and rivalries. The book draws heavily on primary sources, much of it coming from World War II debriefing statements from former Luftwaffe generals and captured Luftwaffe documents and diaries and photographs.

Genres: Military Fiction, Germany, Nonfiction, History, World War II, Aviation, War

291 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Mathieu Gaudreault · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great overall analysis of the Luftwaffe failures by the generals and officers who where in the high command of the Luftwaffe in World War II

The book is well organized. First there the personality that managed the Luftwaffe from Commander in Chief Herman Goering to the differents cheifs of staff.

If the loss of one men did change the world its the loss of General Walter Wever. Charismatic, listened to the view points of the pilots and technicians and mechanincs and the person who had a global point of view(to bomb the war producings factoires of the Soviet Union far from the front lines).

The second part is the mistakes that the Luftwaffe mande and the missed opportunities that where discarded. It shows the fallacy of dive bombing by twin engines bombers and the stuborn decision to built the Heinkel 177 heavy bomber as a heavy dive bomber. Other decisions like dividing the Luftwaffe with a fighter command and a bomber command and the snail pace developement of jet bomber are analyzed. Sur some technical issues are not very mentionaed like the difficulty of building a sustainable jet engine. Also their some tendancy to blame Hitler for some decisions that acutally made sens(the Heer needed a fast fighter bomber to strate the beach head and place where the Anglo-Americans always had air superioty).

Last part is the mistakes made in several battle where air power could have won those for Nazi Germany like an airdrop on Malta(Operation Herkules) and using twin engines bombers in the Soviet Union in a strategic role(bombieng marshalling yards, supply depots, bridges, railways , command center et some factories that where in the range to bomb) instead of tactical. The Junker 87 and Hs 123 where adequate for ground tropus support.

I do recommand this book anyway.