Luftwaffe Over Germany, The: the Defense of the Reich - Hardcover

World War II, "October 2007 "Drawing on newly available primary sources, the authors offer a solid account of day fighter operations against the American strategic bomber operations, as well as analyses pulled from German participants and official observers ... The extensive combat recollections taken from interviews and firsthand accounts paint a desperate picture of shrinking numbers of fighters and crews, a diminishing industrial base, disappearing oil resources, and increased political infighting - even as top Nazi officials like Goring still continued to fantasize that the Reich would ultimately triumph." World War II, "October 2007 "Drawing on newly available primary sources, the authors offer a solid account of day fighter operations against the American strategic bomber operations, as well as analyses pulled from German participants and official observers ... The extensive combat recollections taken from interviews and firsthand accounts paint a desperate picture of shrinking numbers of fighters and crews, a diminishing industrial base, disappearing oil resources, and increased political infighting - even as top Nazi officials like Goring still continued to fantasize that the Reich would ultimately triumph."

Winner of the [US] Air Force Historical Foundation award for Best Air Power History Book for 2008, this is a riveting account of German daylight air-defence in WWII Total coverage of tactics, technology, weaponry and pilots, with more than 160 photographs Based on original documents and correspondence The Luftwaffe over Germany tells the story of one of the longest and most intense air battles in history. The daylight air struggles over Germany during World War II involved thousands of aircraft, dozens of units, and hundreds of aerial engagements. Until now, there has been no single book that covers the complete story, from the highest levels of air strategy to the individual tales of Fw 190s, Bf 109s and Me 262s in air combat against the American bomber streams. This work explores the German air defence system until its collapse in 1945. It examines the detrimental effect of Luftwaffe theory and doctrine on the German air arm's ability to defend the homeland once the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive began in earnest. The hard-pressed Luftwaffe leadership attempted to cobble together an air-defence network while at the same time tending to the combat fronts in Russia and the Mediterranean. Units developed specialised tactics and weapons for dealing with heavily defended bomber formations, while senior commanders sought to construct an elaborate command and control system integrating radar, observers, anti-aircraft guns and fighters. By mid-1944, they had lost the battle - but had exacted a terrible price from the Americans in the process. The product of a ten-year collaboration between two noted Luftwaffe historians, this work fills a major gap in the literature of World War II. The authors have examined original war diaries, logbooks, doctrine manuals, after-action reports and interviews with many combat veterans to produce a richly detailed account. Illustrated with more than 160 photographs, as well as new maps and diagrams, The Luftwaffe over Germany is certain to become the standard work on the subject.