'Aussie Rick'’s Comments (group member since Jun 12, 2009)

'Aussie Rick'’s comments from the THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP group.

The October theme read is any book or books of your choice that is a biography of WW2 personality,

Some excellent books there Dimitri, sorry to hear about your break-up.

Jonny wrote: "Holland o'clock... Cassino '44: The Bloodiest Battle of the Italian Campaign with a really uninspiring Kindle cover....

[bookcover:Cassino '44: The Bloodiest Battle of the Italian..."

I have a hardback edition on order :)

Bryan wrote: "This looks good, AR. We need more books on this war. Allan Reed Millett never finished his series."

That's true Bryan. I recently read his second volume with ended with 1951.

Not due out to 2025 but maybe one of interest is this new book on the Korean War by Richard Dannatt and Robert Lyman:

Korea: War Without End by Richard Dannatt
Description:
A ground-breaking history of this global conflict including the errors and miscalculations.

Korea: War Without End examines the stand-off between East and West in Korea that ultimately defined the second half of the 20th century. It provides a critical analysis of the lack of preparation by the West for war; the results of the North Korean invasion in June 1950; the counter-stroke by MacArthur in September and then the strategic overreach which led to communist China's involvement on the North Korean side, and the rapid escalation to consideration of the use of nuclear weapons.

Through meticulous analysis of all the source material, this book details the chaos of political decision-making at the war's outset and as it progressed. The Korean War was not planned as a Communist offensive against the West. In turn, the East did not understand the principle at the core of the Western response to Kim Il-sung's aggression, namely a refusal to appease an aggressor, the key mistake the West considered to be at the heart of the rise of Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan in the 1930s.

Korea: War Without End also considers the effect of the fighting on civilians. While the war was a proxy one between East and West, the people of Korea suffered immensely, with approximately 3 million war fatalities and a larger proportional civilian death toll than World War II. This is the definitive history of the conflict that is long overdue.

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - During the Soviet advance on Berlin, the VVS found itself short of landing strips close to the front lines, the solution was to use the German highway system, the autobahn, as all-weather landing strips.

Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II by Von Hardesty

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - The author mentioned two of the top Soviet aces that flew P-39 Aircobra's on the Eastern Front:

"Two of the leading Soviet Aircobra aces - Colonel Alesksandr Potryshkin (fifty-two victories, with forty on the Aircobra) and Major Dmitriy Glinka (Fifty victories, with thirty-nine on the Aircobra)."

Colonel Alesksandr Potryshkin:
https://aircrewremembered.com/pokrysh...

Major Dmitriy Glinka:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_...

Owning a Kindle can be tricky, just downloaded this new release for only $8.79 (Aust.): "The Defeat and Attrition of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision "Hitlerjugend": Volume I: The Normandy Bridgehead Battles 7–11 June 1944" by Arthur W. Gullachsen.

The Defeat and Attrition of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision "Hitlerjugend": Volume I: The Normandy Bridgehead Battles 7–11 June 1944 by Arthur W. Gullachsen

Apparently, Geoffrey Wawro has a new book due out soon on the Vietnam War; "The Vietnam War A Military History".

The Vietnam War: A Military History by Geoffrey Wawro
Description:
The Vietnam War cast a shadow over the American psyche from the moment it began. In its time it sparked budget deficits, campus protests, and an erosion of US influence around the world. Long after the last helicopter evacuated Saigon, Americans have continued to battle over whether it was ever a winnable war.

Based on thousands of pages of military, diplomatic, and intelligence documents, Geoffrey Wawro's The Vietnam War offers a definitive account of a war of choice that was doomed from its inception. In devastating detail, Wawro narrates campaigns where US troops struggled even to find the enemy in the South Vietnamese wilderness, let alone kill sufficient numbers to turn the tide in their favor. Yet the war dragged on, prolonged by presidents and military leaders who feared the political consequences of accepting defeat. In the end, no number of young lives lost or bombs dropped could prevent America's ally, the corrupt South Vietnamese regime, from collapsing the moment US troops retreated.

Broad, definitive, and illuminating, The Vietnam War offers an unsettling, resonant story of the limitations of American power.

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - Also mentioned by the author was the US shuttle bombing missions conducted during Operation Frantic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - The author made mention of the efforts of foreign pilots fighting on the Eastern Front, including the French:

"The Normandie Regiment flew a total of 5,240 sorties, fought 900 air battles, and scored 273 confirmed victories in the course of the war on the Eastern Front."

The Normandie Regiment:
https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/...

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - From the chapter - The Fiery Skies over Romania:

"In May-June 1944, the skies over northern Romania became an arena for one of the most intensive air battles of the war. This would also be one of the last major air campaigns of the Luftwaffe to regain a measure of air supremacy in the East. Over the Romanian town of Yassy and the surrounding region, Axis and Soviet airmen engaged in a series of intense and violent encounters. Some of the most celebrated aces on both sides participated in this bloody battle. Gerd Barkhorn, the Luftwaffe ace who would end the war with 301 air victories, nearly lost his life over Yassy while attempting to score his 277th victory; some of the most talented surviving German pilots in the East joined him. Like Barkhorn, talented VVS ace Nikolai Gulayev, who would end the war with 57 personal and 5 shared air victories, narrowly escaped death; he was seriously wounded in air combat but managed with great effort to return and safely land at his forward air base. The redoubtable Alexander Pokryshkin also took part in the Yassy air battle, assuming a prominent leadership role. He was joined by other stellar Soviet pilots, including high-ranking aces Ivan Kozhedub and Grigoriy Rechkalov. Yassy was an intense and monumental struggle for both air forces, but ironically, it is one of the lest chronicled air battles of World War II."

The Second Jassy-Kishinev Offensive:
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_...

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - A bit more from the chapter covering the air war during the German offensive at Kursk and the rise of new Soviet aces:

"During the hectic days of Operation Citadel, Kozhedub repeatedly placed himself in perilous situations, but his quick adaptation to the demands of air combat enabled him to escape death - often by a narrow margin. By the fifth day of Operation Citadel, he had destroyed two Ju 87s and two Bf 109s, receiving at the end of the Kursk hostilities the Order of the Red Banner and a promotion to the command of his own fighter squadron. During the subsequent Soviet campaign to cross the Dnieper River, Kozhedub, in a burst of energy and skill, scored eleven victories in ten days in some of the most bitter air combat of the war. His most impressive display of combat skill came in 1944 over Romania, where he downed eight German planes in one week. He ended the war with sixty-three victories, becoming the top-scoring Allied ace."

Ivan Kozhedub:
https://airpowerasia.com/2020/08/09/a...

https://acesofww2.com/soviet/aces/koz/

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - From the chapter covering the air war during the German offensive at Kursk:

"The VVS endured heavy losses in the air action over the northern sector as a result of the Luftwaffe's active and determined posture to thwart Soviet operations. By one estimate, the 16th Air Army had to write off some 439 aircraft, or 38 percent of the entire inventory. A total of 391 planes had been lost in air combat or otherwise, a measure of VVS commitment in the northern sector. General Rudenko recorded that in one week he had lost 55 percent of his fighters, 37 percent of his ground attack planes, and 8 percent of his bombers."

The Massive Air Battle of Kursk | The Luftwaffe vs the Soviet Air Force:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGSl-...

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - One first-hand account from the air war over the Kuban:

"Another pilot in the 812th, Ivan Pedorov, faced extreme danger in his first encounter with the enemy over the Kuban. His experiences suggest the arbitrary nature or air warfare. On his initial sortie, he spotted three flights of Ju 88s forming a column at around 9,850 feet (3,000 meters). Suddenly, a group of Bf 109s made their appearance:

'Several Bf 109s with outboard cannons flashed like shadows and disappeared in the direction of the blinding sun. We could not tell. I understood that they were firing only when I saw the burning aircraft of Ivan Martynenko, wingman of our flight commander. To the right and slightly above, I caught sight of tongues of flame. I turned my head - pieces of burning Yaks, like a fantastic frightening dream, were flying off in various directions and tumbling toward earth. Not far from me, somersaulting slowly, fell a tail section with a red star on it. Who was the pilot? What happened to him?'

Pedorov later recorded his first victory by downing a Bf 109."

Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II by Von Hardesty

Mike wrote: "I just picked this up and have added it to my list of upcoming books.
Massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane: Nazi Gold and the Murder of an Entire French Town by SS Division Das Reich"

That should be a very interesting account, Mike!

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - Some details on the Spitfire on the Eastern Front:

"A. L. Ivanov of the 57th GIAP flew British Spitfires in the Kuban during April-Kune 1943. His memoirs suggest that the Spitfire, despite its legendary role in the Battle of Britain, did not perform well on the Eastern Front. 'Our English birds,' Ivanov lamented, 'resemble too closely the Messerschmitt (Bf 109).' This confusion created danger for the Spitfire-equipped 57th Guards. Ivanov himself was shot down twice by other VVS fighter pilots from neighboring air units who mistook him for the enemy. Soviet antiaircraft units showed the same tendency to fire, often with great accuracy, on the Soviet Spitfires. Several expedients were tried to make the Spitfire safer, including changing the unit markings on the fuselage. Ivanov's account of the Spitfire's performance has been challenged in other extant VVS combat records, which suggest that the Spitfire - even if occasionally mistaken for an enemy aircraft - proved to be an effective interceptor in the hands of skilled VVS pilots. In fact, many frontline Soviet pilots looked upon the Spitfire as a high-performance aircraft, equal to the Luftwaffe's Bf 109 types. Whatever its actual merits, after three months, the VVS withdrew its small number of Spitfires from the combat zones."

Spitfires over the Kuban:
https://lend-lease.net/articles-en/sp...

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - The air campaign over the Kuban has started in support of a Soviet land offensive:

"At 0700 hours on April 29, the VVS 4th Air Army made another massive raid to coincide with the opening of a ground offensive by the 56th Army. For three hours, VVS aircraft - 144 bombers, 82 ground attack airplanes, and 265 fighters - pounded the enemy positions. The VVS made 1,268 sorties that day, including 379 night sorties. The Soviet goal was to administer a powerful preparatory air strike in the initial phase and then provide sustained air support for the ground forces advancing on two sides of Krymskaya.

Air units from the Luftwaffe Fliegerkorps I quickly move to stem the Soviet breakthrough attempt. Bombers, ground attacks aircraft, and fighters flew repeated sorties against the advancing Soviet forces. On April 29, the skies over Krymskaya were filled with German and Soviet combat aircraft. In a narrow 15- to 18-mile (24- to 29-kilometer) sector, the Luftwaffe engaged the VVS in an intense air struggle, against a backdrop of fierce ground fighting. In the period leading up to May 12, huge air battles became a daily occurrence in this sector - up to forty clashes per day, involving fifty to a hundred aircraft from each side."

Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II by Von Hardesty

I've got a copy to read Mike as well. I hope it's a good account :)

"Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II" - The author had this to say on the air campaign over the Kuban:

"In April-May 1943, the Kuban River in the North Caucasus became the remote locale for one of the most dramatic air battles in World War II. These fierce air engagements fell chronologically between the German campaigns at Stalingrad and at Kursk. In Western accounts, this two-month air war has been relegated to a sort of historical limbo, being overshadowed by the more dramatic 'turning points' at Stalingrad and Kursk. Soviet chronicles of the air war, however, approach the Kuban episode in the same fashion as Americans view the Battle of Midway - a pivotal moment or benchmark in the long path to victory.

In retrospect, the Kuban struggle may seem marginal in the larger scheme of the war. There were no major breakthroughs during or after the conflict be either side. No large army grouping was defeated, enveloped, or captured. The whole affair, at first glance, appears to be simply an interlude or air combat between two epic battles. For the VVS, the air engagement in the North Caucasus became a decisive moment in the quest to gain parity with the Luftwaffe. Moreover, the Kuban chapter marked for the Soviets the transition from a defensive to an offensive posture. Here, for the first time, the VVS displayed a rapidly evolving organizational efficiency, ever-shifting air tactics, numerical superiority, and clever employment of its vast air reserves. All these components came together during the Kuban period, culminating two arduous years of development, adaptation, and piecemeal experimentation. As Alexander Pokryshkin, a veteran of these air operations, asserts in his memoirs, the Kuban was used as a proving ground to articulate in theory and demonstrate in practice the isolated 'lessons' learned in air combat between 1941 and 1943."

Kuban Air Offensive Operation:
https://codenames.info/operation/kuba...