By Henry L. de Zeng and Douglas G. Stankey.
Subtitled 'Units, formations and redesignation, commanders, key operations, codes, emblems'
Published by Classic in 2009, 208 pages. Hardback with Dust Jacket - c.23cm by 31cm (N6869)
Brand New Book
From the inside front fly leaf: Initial operations by the Luftwaffe in Poland, France and the Low Countries during 1939 and 1940 were to demonstrate the concept of the dive-bomber. During these first years of the war, the Ju 87 'Stuka' was able to roam unchallenged over the battlefronts, striking terror into enemy troops and contributing mightily to the success of the German Blitzkrieg concept of warfare.
But when the aircraft came up against effective fighter opposition during the Battle of Britain, those units operating the type suffered devastating losses, resulting in the Stuka's withdrawal from operations. Turning to the East, the Ju 87 was able once more to contribute to Germany's initial incursion into the Soviet Union. Again, however, the Luftwaffe gradually lost its air superiority and the type again became vulnerable as a dive-bomber. The result was that Germany was forced to switch to ground-attack operations mainly with the Fw 190.
This is the first of two volumes providing highly detailed information on the organisation of the Luftwaffe's dive-bomber units during World War 2. This volume covers sixteen dive-bomber and the first two ground-attack Geschwader together with their component Staff flights and Gruppen. It includes details of their formation and reorganisation through to the end of the war, with locations, bases and transfers together with an exhaustive breakdown of theatres of operations, key battles and aircraft types that were flown by each unit. This volume also includes listings of senior field officers together with brief biographies of the more important commanders. Volume 2 covers the remaining day and night ground-attack units and both contain many photographs of aircraft in unit markings with colour renditions of unit emblems.