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Christer Bergström
29th April 2005, 23:36
I thought some of you guys might be interested in the new updates on my website dedicated to the forthcoming book on JG 5 ace Walter Schuck:

http://www.bergstrombooks.elknet.pl/messerschmitt-ace/index.htm (http://www.bergstrombooks.elknet.pl/messerschmitt-ace/index.htm)

Boandlgramer
2nd June 2005, 08:31
is there now a more accurate release date about the book :) ? (walterschuck story).
hope also black cross & red star volume 3 is out soon.
can´t wait to read both.
volume 1 and 2 are my " Schätze in meiner Buchsammlung".
sehr gut gemacht , christer.

Nick Beale
2nd June 2005, 15:15
So, Christer (and of course everybody putting out texts about those times), you are writing books about things that happened sixty and more years ago, you are interviewing and talking to participants in WWII who are eighty and ninety years old. Their memories can of course be substantiated by diaries and log books, but still, I'm always amazed of the clarity and portrayed exactness of the facts represented in those "memory" books.

I mean, this is not just the "memory" of, say, being with your unit in Minsk in the summer of 1943, flying missions every day. No, this is about "remembering" the exact flights each and every day, where and when and why. And I think it's astonishing how very, very seldom I find any question marks, any doubt about those very exact data presented in these books...! I know, the 100% truth doesn't exist. but still...

Of course I'm full of admiration for all of you giving us those "memories" served so well and convincingly ... but still I wonder...

As one of the "everybody else putting out texts about those times", here's how it's done. Veterans of 80+ often have very vivid memories of particular events. They are usually less clear on exact dates and chronologies, unless they have a log book. You also have to be careful of memories like "we lost a lot of people in accidents" as the death of one friend can "multiply" in retrospect into a series. Still, personal accounts bring history to life.

Cross-referencing personal recollection with contemporary sources from both sides, it's gratifying how often you can pin down a particular memory. With careful wording you can avoid transforming theories into facts. For example, "It was probably this occasion that Fritz Schmidt was recalling when he said..."

A statement like "Fritz Schmidt flew three sorties over Kursk that day" can probably be backed up. IMHO the phrases that should really ring alarm bells are "Fritz Schmidt must have thought...", "would have felt..." etc. That's a sign of the author's imagination replacing historical inquiry.

Boandlgramer
27th June 2005, 13:54
BUMP.
Any News about the Releasedate ? Christer ?

Christer Bergström
11th July 2005, 15:16
BUMP.
Any News about the Releasedate ? Christer ?

Not exactly, but I hope to have it published next year.

Anyway, I'm pretty occupied working on the manuscript. Claes Sundin, Horst Kube and I will spend four days together with Walter Schuck later this month, going through the manuscript.

Regarding Black Cross/Red Star, Vol. 3, please don't ask me. I'm waiting for it too, and I don't know more than what there is on Eagle Edition's website. It will be out in 2005, I've got a firm promise on that.

Andrey Dikov
18th July 2005, 15:42
Christer, I sent an e-mail to you three weeks ago, but got no reply. As far as that mail contained a rather important question, I decided to ask you for it on this board.



In June I’ve visited your site seeking for BC3 release date information and I’ve found out that the names of your Russian BC3 co-authors (me and Vlad Antipov) are not mentioned anywhere. I went to the Eagle Editions web site and again – they tell about BC3 “by Christer Bergstrom”. And I wonder why?



It seems that BC3 will be released soon, so it would be great to hear your opinion about all those announcements before it.

Best wishes,

Your friend Andrey

Christer Bergström
24th July 2005, 23:26
On the BC/RS website, you can find this:
"Volume 3 of Black Cross/Red Star has been written by Christer Bergström, with important contributions by Andrey Mikhailov, Andrey Dikov, Vlad Antipov, and Claes Sundin."

http://www.bergstrombooks.elknet.pl/bc-rs/vol3.htm

Andrey, I have sent you an e-mail reply.

Andrey Dikov
25th July 2005, 20:38
>On the BC/RS website, you can find this:


>"Volume 3 of Black Cross/Red Star has been written by Christer >Bergström, with important contributions by Andrey Mikhailov, Andrey Dikov, >Vlad Antipov, and Claes Sundin."

Thank you for adding this words on your site, Christer!

I hope that Eagles will remember us as well.

However it would be great that this sentence would talk about us as co-authors, as we really were. Not just contributors, important or not.

>Andrey, I have sent you an e-mail reply.

Yes, thank you, I'll reply asap!

Vlad Antipov
26th July 2005, 20:09
Hello, Christer!

I’m glad to hear the news from you!
I was also confused that our team is not mentioned as a team of full rights authors, but as a raw contributors of BC3. I hope the Publisher will correct the situation and make up this gap.

I really think the volume will be great as far we work on it together for many years. The more so, the materials from a Russian point of view, including difficult of access Russian archive documents makes it really unique and balanced. This will be very interesting for readers as far as the attention to the Ost front air war grows. We were the BlackCross vs. Red Star team and are full rights members of the world historical community doesn’t matter we work in different projects now. The publisher shouldn’t forget it!

With a respect,

Vlad

Franek Grabowski
26th July 2005, 21:03
I think you may directly ask Judy or Jerry Crandall for comments.

Andrey Dikov
5th August 2005, 14:58
As far this question had risen on TOCH publicly, I should put dots i’s and cross t’s to avoid misunderstanding, ambiguities and any rumors.

We had an e-mail discussion between us (authors of BC 3) this week and Christer Bergstrom kindly assured us that gentleman’s agreement we had before (Russian co-authors had no signed agreement with publisher, but directly with Christer) is valid without any changes. We are all authors of BC3 (and BC4), of course, and we’ll be named and treated as equal-rights authors (not as contributors or second rate co-authors) including cover design. The gaps and misprints on Christer Bergstrom’s site and Eagle Editions’ site will be corrected as soon as possible.

It seems that all those errors and misunderstandings are inevitable in case of cooperation between several authors and publisher situated in several different countries and even continents.

Volume three should be really great and interesting, I hope it will be published really soon.

Special thanks, Christer, for your kind responsibility and to respectful community members for your attention!

WEISNER
12th December 2005, 07:52
Any new update for the release of the Walter Schuck book? has been some time since this topic was discussed/
Kevin

Christer Bergström
12th December 2005, 20:27
The manuscript has just been completed. The around 250 photos for the book (most of which have never previously been published) have just been selected. Claes Sundin is working on the aircraft colour profiles for the book.

One publisher has said that he aims at publishing it asap in 2006, but we haven't sent it to the publisher yet. We'll do so as soon as it is completed, which will be probably within the next few weeks.

We are looking at a large-size, richly illustrated book, of nearly the same size as the Graf & Grislawski book.

Before the Schuck book, my two JG 54 "Grünherz" pilot biographies on Hans-Ekkehard Bob and Max-Hellmuth Ostermann will be published. And "Black Cross/Red Star", vol. 3.

WEISNER
13th December 2005, 02:52
Thanks for the update Christer, look foward to the books release. is a pilot signed edition in the works?
Kevin

FalkeEins
14th December 2005, 12:06
<One publisher has said that he aims at publishing it asap in 2006>

..guess that rules out Eagle Editions then..

WEISNER
16th December 2005, 07:11
Be careful to get an advance and your contract in order when sending your manuscript to any publisher, I had a good friend get robbed years ago because she trusted the people. she is still waiting for payment for her work....her trust put no food on the table or bought her kids any of the things they needed...once again is a pilot signed edition in the works?

Christer Bergström
18th December 2005, 01:34
is a pilot signed edition in the works?

Allow me to give you this rather cryptical answer: In principle, yes. I would be very surprised if there would be no pilot signed edition. But be prepared to pay much for a copy of such a rare and limited (numbered) edition. (I feel free to say so because I don't think I will earn anything extra from that edition.)

Christer Bergström
19th December 2005, 23:17
In this very moment (yes, literally), Mr. Walter Schuck is occupied reading through the completed manuscript and making important notes and additions. He has given me some VERY interesting (and unquestionably accurate) information - which can't be found in any published source, nor in any public archive - about his victories numbers 171-196, which were recorded after September 1944 but before 1945. Yesterday he gave me green light to go public on that, which in itself is a little "scoop". I'll say no more now; wait for the book...

Meanwhile, Claes Sundin is occupied refining all the photos for the book. Claes was absolutely stunned when he saw the photos! (In addition to that, I have been promised a batch of absolutely rare - never before seen - photos of men and Me 262s of I./JG 7, where Schuck served!)

I also have to mention the invaluable contribution which my colleague Yuriy Rybin has given to the book! You just can't imagine what can be found in Russian archives... Okay, I'll say no more now; wait for the book...

The book will be dedicated to the wives of the two old pilot friends Walter Schuck and Joe Peterburs (you know - the former shot down the latter, and then they met this year) - who both sadly passed away last year.

Jan Bobek
21st December 2005, 16:58
Looks exciting. Congratulations.

Christer Bergström
21st December 2005, 23:15
Talk about looking exciting:

http://www.baer.bloguje.cz

(Actually, I don't refer to Jan's face on the site - rather the book... :p )

Christer Bergström
28th January 2006, 14:09
I have been asked where Yuriy Rybin and I have found the material for such a large biography as our on Walter Schuck. First of all, we have exhausted all there is on Schuck and his comrades in official German archives. However, most of the original documents on JG 5 indeed were destroyed during or at the end of the war, and some were captured by the Soviets or the Norwegians. Nevertheless, some documents have cropped up in private archives and collections in recent years, and there is a wealth of information in Russian archives which can be used to reconstruct several air combats - even from the German point of view - in detail with utmost historical accuracy.

The following excerpt is an example of how we have been able to combine some German material with Russian archive material to reconstruct an air combat authentically:

In the afternoon, Schuck participated when twenty-one Me 109s and Fw 190s took off to attack the Soviet ships. The Germans split into three formations - consisting of four respectively eight and nine aircraft - which in intervals attacked the ships from different directions. Schuck and four other Me 109 pilots escorted four Fw 190s. While the Focke Wulfs dived against the ships, scoring hits on all of them, Schuck and the Messerschmitt pilots attacked the four Soviet Hurricanes which were on patrol over the boats. These were from 78 IAP/VVS SF. The Soviet formation leader, Mladshiy Leytenant Valeriy Kiritshenko, was quite experienced. This was his 86th combat flight, and he knew that his four old Hurricanes stood little chance against a superior number of Me 109 Gs. He ordered his men into a Lufbery Circle, although that would not either provide the Soviets with much protection.
Knowing exactly how to engage the Soviets in this manoeuvre, Schuck pulled in behind the leading Hurricane. A brief correction of the turning angle, and then he opened fire. The clock on the dashboard in Schuck’s aircraft showed 1616 hours when his [Xth] victory was registered. While the wounded Kiritshenko brought his crippled Hurricane down to a belly-landing on the shore of the Rybachiy Peninsula, Schuck pulled up before his next attack. By shooting down the leading Hurricane, Schuck had broken the Lufbery circle, and the three remaining Hurricanes flew uncoordinatedly in different directions. At 1622 hours, Schuck’s next victim went down.
Again, Schuck decided to gain altitude before his third attack. He pulled the stick and climbed into the thick layer of clouds slightly above. Exactly in that moment, Soviet reinforcement arrived - in the shape of three Hurricanes from 27 IAP/VVS SF. Leading these aircraft was Mladshiy Leytenant Magomet Ikhayev. Like Kiritshenko, he was a quite experienced pilot. Ikhayev had been in action since 1941, and this was his 51st combat mission. But the mistake he made was to try to pursue Schuck’s climbing Messerschmitt into the coulds. Maybe the excitement caused Ikhayev to forget the German tactic of always keeping a Rotte or Schwarm as top cover. As Ikhayev’s Hurricane emerged above the cloud, Major Günther Scholz’s Messerschmitt 109 dived down on him, shooting his Hurricane to pieces.
When Schuck dived down for the third time, he could see no trace of any enemy aircraft. In fact, Ikhayev’s two wingmen had disappeared into the clouds, and the four-plane formation from 78 IAP was completely obliterated. Oberleutnant Horst Berger and Leutnant Hans-Bodo Diepen shot down the last two 78 IAP Hurricanes.

WEISNER
20th March 2006, 08:07
Christer, How is this book coming along, any date for release yet? can you please give us an update on progress? thank you in advance and I am eagerly awaiting the release of this work...has been awhile since you have updated us on this work...
Kevin

Christer Bergström
23rd March 2006, 22:03
It has been completed since quite some time now. My co-author Yuriy Rybin and I are waiting for the final written approval so that we can send it to the publisher.

WEISNER
20th July 2006, 00:35
It has been almost four months since any updates were posted on this thread, any new news on a release date and who is to publish the book?
Kevin

Harri Honkanen
18th August 2006, 19:17
Yes indeed,I would also be interested in the current situation of this book.Any news?

WEISNER
13th September 2006, 02:07
Greetings Christer, any new news on a release date or who the publisher will be? still very interested in this book.
Kevin

krichter33
18th October 2006, 09:39
When will this book be published?

Federl Christian
18th October 2006, 18:06
Hi Christer,

I remember me that Schuck sold his awords an Documents (includet soldbook and flightbook and a lot of - 200 picture) in the 90' to a aword dealer names Stefan Körlin. From him I' get the original german Cross an KC with oaks from Schuck for my collection.
I think he have also copis from the dokuments, and picturs from the awards. For 4 years I had Information a collector close to stugart (gemany) have all the staff from Schuck.
If you need more Information I can give you the adress from this aword dealer...

Best regards
Christian Federl

krichter33
7th November 2006, 01:52
???