Defeat of the Luftwaffe
Regular price
€16.99
In 1939 and 1940 the Nazi blitzkrieg crushed Poland and the Low Countries and France. This was a new type of warfare with air and ground forces working hand-in-glove and sweeping away all resistance. On the ground the new panzer divisions symbolised this combat revolution, and in the air its symbol was the all-conquering Luftwaffe with its fleets of Stuka dive bombers.
When Hitler looked further east in 1941, the Luftwaffe turned with him, spearheading the largest invasion in world history as the Wehrmacht launched Operation Barbarossa to annihilate Stalin’s Soviet Union. Within weeks they had destroyed thousands of Red Air Force planes and ruled the skies. Yet less than four years later that same Red Air Force was flying unopposed over Hitler’s burning Reich Chancellery in Berlin and his much-vaunted Luftwaffe lay in utter ruins. How did this happen?
Using original research and exceptional illustrations, including photos of planes from both sides, this book explains how the Nazi Luftwaffe’s certain victory in the east was transformed into ashes through incompetence, misjudgement and hubris.
Jonathan has an honours degree in History and served in the British Army, completing operational tours in Northern Ireland and Bosnia, and latterly acting as a military instructor to friendly governments in the Arabian Gulf. He has written extensively, although not exclusively, on the Second World War, specialising in the fighting on the Eastern Front, and non-Germans who served in the Waffen-SS. A regular expert contributor to all aspects of media, including TV and a range of magazines including History of War, All About History and The Armourer. He also often features on radio; BBC Radio 4, Talk Radio, Newstalk, and in a large number of podcasts, such as ww2podcast.com, History Hack and History Hit. His previous books include 'Death on the Don: The Destruction of Germany’s Allies on the Eastern Front' and the best-selling 'D-Day Through German Eyes'.