Arming the Luftwaffe
 

The publisher was remiss in not providing even a projected page count. I do hope that the nuts and bolts as it were, are covered in sufficient detail along with a proportioned view of the slave labor component.

Scheduled for 2012.


http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.p...-0-7864-6521-7



Usual disclaimer,
Ed

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

I checked in other places and indeed, the no. of pages is not given anywhere.
Nevertheless, I placed an order for the book. ;)

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Gentlemen!

My eyebrows were raised a couple of notches when I realized that the "Arming the Luftwaffe" being referred to in the thread was NOT the book that I have had in my posssession since 1978, but a completely different book!

The book I have a copy of is:

Homze, Edward. L. Arming the Luftwaffe (Lincoln, Nebraska:University of Nebraska Press, 1976). ISBN 0-8032-0872-3. - 296 pages - few illustrations

The title is misleading as this is actually about the program management and financial aspects during the build-up years. (A more accurate title might have been "Program Management of the Luftwaffe" but I suspect that this might not leap off the shelves, unless to escape.) Thus far, this is the only book I have seen on this aspect of our favorite subject. I recommend it highly. Mr. Homze is described in the dust jacket as:

A professor of history at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Edward L. Homze is the author of Foreign Labor in Nazi Germany (1967) and with Alma Homze, of: Germany: The Divided Nation (1970) and Willy Brandt (1974).

Not mentioned, because it came later, was:

Homze, Edward L. German Military Aviation - A Guide to the Literature (New York: Garland Publishing, 1984). ISBN: 0-8240-9059-4. - 234 pages, no illustrations.

This is a general bibliography of various publications pertaining to the Luftwaffe with commentary from an academic perspective. Interesting, but conspicuously dismissive of technical topics. It is also now terribly dated, as a flood of excellent books has since gushed from the pens of many knowledgeable authors.


Anyway, I thought that the readership should be apprised of this.

DGS

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear All,

Arming the Luftwaffe: The German Aviation Industry in World War II, by Daniel Uziel, is described at McFarland's website at:

http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.p...-0-7864-6521-7

This soft cover book runs 312 pages and contains 59 photos. I have known Daniel since 2003. He and I met up at NARA II in 2004 while he had a 1-year fellowship at the NASM. His fellowship topic was the German aircraft industry during the last year of the war, a subject not very well covered and certainly of great interest to me and many others. This book is the culmination of this research as well as research conducted worldwide.

As for the book's title, Daniel wrote to me:

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Richard, the link seems not to work. Anyway, even if the book concentrates on the last year of the war, it will interest me...

Edit: Ed's link works, but not Richard's...

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Jukka,

I had hand copied the link and failed to include part of it. It is now fixed.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

If not German aircraft production then what is the actual focus of the book? I have pre-ordered it, thinking that I will have a general overview of German aviation industry, with lots of 'juicy' details (precise production figures, including sub-types, W.Nr. blocks, etc.)..

P.S. The bookseller (www.thebookdepository.co.uk) just informed me that the book is on its way to me.

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Dénes,

The book is out, so it shouldn't be all that long before you have it. My copy will be coming from Israel, so it is going to take a while before I see it.

While it would be nice to have specific production figures and Werk-Nr. lists by aircraft type, my guess is that that isn't what the focus of the book is about. Rather, I expect the book to take us through the history of the evolution of how aircraft got from the initial proposals to actual production, which varied during the war. Uziel had focused very heavily in his research on the He 162, as he considered this essentially the final refinement of this process. The fact that, like the U.S. P-80, it was turned out in an amazingly short time speaks toward the refinement of the process. Add to this that its development and set up for production came at the very end of the war when resources were severely taxed/limited by the crushing Allied efforts and its quick evolution is really remarkable. Now, this is not to say that the design/concept, itself, wasn't flawed, which it certainly was, but just speaks to the manufacturing process, itself.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Richard,



Based on the information given here, I have only mixed feelings about this book. And, for the sake of fairness, the P-80 had its share of problems as well, with orders being given to look at German research to solve further problems.



Regards,
Ed

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Well, in light of this summary, I will have a copy for sale soon. :(

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Ed and Dénes,

First, oh yes, the P-80 had a less than glorious introduction, eventually being grounded after multiple crashes.

For all to get a better feel for the book, here is the description from McFarland's webpage:

"About the Book
During World War II, aviation was among the largest industrial branches of the Third Reich. About 40 percent of total German war production, and two million people, were involved in the manufacture of aircraft and air force equipment. Based on German records, Allied intelligence reports, and eyewitness accounts, this study explores the military, political, scientific, and social aspects of Germany’s wartime aviation industry: production, research and development, Allied attacks, foreign workers and slave labor, and daily life and working conditions in the factories. Testimony from Holocaust survivors who worked in the factories provides a compelling new perspective on the history of the Third Reich.

About the Author
Daniel Uziel has worked at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and for the Israeli Air Force and the German Foreign Office. He spent a year as a research fellow with the U.S. National Air and Space Museum and has written a book on propaganda and the Wehrmacht and several articles on World War II aviation history, the Germany army and the Holocaust."

And, here is the table of contents:

"Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v
Introduction 1

1. The Aviation Industry at War 7
2. The Aviation Industry and the Air War 51
3. Reorganization of Aircraft Production 71
4. From Technological Expertise to Slave Labor 144
5. On the Production Lines—Daily Life in the Factories 194
6. The “People’s Fighter” as Case Study of a Late-War Program 236

Conclusion 263
Chapter Notes 269
Bibliography 293
Index 299"

Maybe there aren't all that many of us that are interested in how the German aircraft industry was set up and how it changed throughout the war, which might explain the paucity of books on the subject. The fact that German aircraft production actually reached its highest level in 1944 despite the massive Allied air bombardment I believe is covered in detail in the book. Just how many books can anyone cite that can tell you what life was like in the factories? The entire subject of the influence of politics and Allied bombardment on production I find quite fascinating. In the face of overwhelming odds, the industry kept going full tilt. Even in 1945, when the end was clearly obvious to one and all, production plans still projected into 1946.

To those that might find this account to be of interest, I heartily recommend this book.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Richard,


It appears that point 4 gives away the author's bias. Slave labor was used in V-1 production as well. As I understand it, they were given parts, an instruction sheet and then had to assemble a working assembly. The Germans retained their technological expertise till the end of the war.

No doubt, there are stories to be told about slave labor. Then, by all means, write a book about that. As I think you're aware, by 1944, aircraft component production was being dispersed and some went underground. I have a seen a photo of Fw-190s that were pulled out of a railway tunnel by the Americans. Those fully visible, at least three, were painted and appeared complete.


Regards,
Ed

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Ed,

Yes, being an Israeli, Daniel would certainly be interested in the aspect of the use of slave labor to boost aircraft production. It wasn't really that the SS was trying to push into this area, but, as I understand it, instead the SS was approached by the aircraft manufacturers for additional labor, the SS controlling essentially the only remaining source of labor with which to work. In one of his papers, Daniel refers to "The Production Miracle", which told the story of how this new source of labor allowed for the increased aircraft industry production. And, being an Israeli, the use of the words "The Production Miracle" hardly speaks to a bias against the use of slave labor, but rather a historian's view as to its contribution to the German war effort. I repeat that I have not seen the book but, based on his previous papers, I don't think you will see a lot of Nazi bashing.

For that, I can recommend the book St. Georgen - Gusen - Mauthausen: Concentration Camp Mauthausen Reconsidered, By Rudolf A. Haunschmied, Jan-Ruth Mills, and Siegi Witzany-Durda. This well researched book has enormous details and, if one wants to learn of the horrors of the Nazi system of slave labor, this is the book for you. It certainly carries a very strong message which you might want to say is biased, but then, the truth is the truth. It's just a question of the authors' intent and, in the case of Daniel's book, I don't believe that was his intent.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Richard,


I did not mean to imply Nazi bashing. My parents were taken from their villages in 1939 and were transferred to Germany as "forced laborers." Though they were not involved in the production of war materiel, they were there partly to replace those in uniform, and helped keep the infrastructure in Germany running. After the attempt on Hitler's life on 20 July 1944, he began to distrust the Army leadership and began transferring some functions to the SS, and by the end of the war, giving plenipotentiary powers to SS General Dr. Ing. Hans Kammler who was involved with forced labor.


Regards,
Ed

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Ed,

My view on Kammler's assignment represented a total frustration by Hitler that what he wanted to get accomplished simply wasn't happening fast enough for him with the existing structure. To some extent, this frustration was justified. Take, for instance, the Organization Todt (OT). The OT was so heavily burdened with bureaucratic red tape that simply getting lumber supplied to finish off the Me 262 Waldwerk at Schwäbisch Hall took months.

I regret to hear of your own family's involvement. Some of my own relatives perished in the camps or were hunted down and killed. It was a pretty dark side to the Third Reich.

Two other worthy books on the subject are:

The Business of Genocide: The SS, Slave Labor, and the Concentration Camps, by Michael Thad Allen.

Die Illusion der Wunderwaffen: Düsenflugzeuge und Flugabwehrrakaten in der Rüstungspolitik des Dritten Reiches, by Ralf Schabel

I think it is Allen's book in which the schizophrenia of the Third Reich on this topic is clearly laid out. On the one hand, as you say, Germany needed laborers to replace those siphoned off by the war, while on the other hand, extermination of the Jews, the Final Solution, was in direct conflict with production needs. Even Göring was pretty powerless to stop the bleeding off of men to the fronts, as conscriptions would take place in the middle of the night before any legal actions could be put into place to prevent them. And, arguments to prevent the killing of the needed manpower likely were only partially successful. I believe, too, that there was a distinction between slave laborers and forced laborers.

Dénes, the German aviation effort wasn't just about aircraft types, subtypes, numbers built, Werknummern, and the like. Real people were involved in very difficult situations. Their story is as much an important part of the history of the Luftwaffe as the aircraft. The politics involved makes for very fascinating reading.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Richard,


Thank you for your comments. I think then, this book should have a subtitle with words like politics in it. If this is mainly about bureaucratic rivalries, red tape, incompetence, interservice rivalries (for men and materiel), and the exploitation of human beings, it should have a subtitle like: Arming the Luftwaffe: Politics, Bureaucracy and the Human Cost. Look at the V-2: the Army considered it a piece of artillery, the Luftwaffe wanted control since it flew through the air and was not shot from a cannon, and then the SS gained final control.

Hitler made it clear in Mein Kampf that 'living room' was required, so killing the üntermensch and other undesirables made sense. Eugenics was all the rage in the United States and made its way to Europe. I recall watching a newsreel where German 'scientists' were using calipers to measure the size of the head and position of the features of a genetically inferior person.



Regards,
Ed

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Ed,

I think the book is more than that. As I said, I haven't seen it yet and can only go by earlier papers I have seen.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Richard, you're absolutely right. Aircraft were assembled by workers, production was organized by specialised institutions, and so on. Not to mention politics.
The same way, aircraft were flown by real men, who after exiting the cockpit (if returned from combat) had a full life, with many turns and tweaks worth of telling.

Yet, one must draw the line if he/she wants to focus on a specific detail, if he/she (hopes) to achieve something lasting. That's why I was primarily looking for the production figures side of the story and ordered the book solely based on its title and sub-title.

OT. With the risk of starting a flame war - as the very topic is sensitive and any attempt to touch it a different way usually causes heated debates and accusations of anti-this, anti-that - I must mention that the slave labour in the Soviet Union is not covered, by far, as detailed as the one in the IIIrd Reich (not to mention the Holocaust). This, in spite of the fact that slave labour was more common and work camps, with conditions as harsh as under the Nazi regime, were much more numerous in the USSR than in Hitler's Germany. And they lasted much longer, too. This generates a feeling of unbalanced/biased view of history.

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Dénes,

I have to admit my view of the Soviet camps was of postwar and frankly I am ignorant of their wartime camps. Maybe a history of these, too, is out there or needs to be written.

I alerted Daniel to our thread here and he has offered a more complete view of the contents of his book:

Introduction

2. The Aviation Industry at War

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Just received this. Looks good.

Smaller than Budrass' study that still dominates the field, it appears to be the best thing in English. Unlike Budrass, gives attention to the late-war situation. THis books' case study, of the He 162, makes a good book-end to Budrass' use of the Ju 88 as his case study.

Labor issues (including slave labor) are central to his story, but this is not a book about survival on the production line (I recommend Livia Bitton-Jackson's account of her time at Augsburg for that).

Drew heavily from sources at the US National Archives, Freiburg, and NASM. Alas, did not seem to have used the Messerschmitt and Milch FD microfilm documents at the IWM (now at Duxford). There is stuff there that does not appear elsewhere (and reminds one to use Irving's biography of Milch with care). Plus you've got to applaud a historian who includes an episode of The Simpsons in his footnotes.

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Why applaud a historian due to a referral to The Simpsons?

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear All,

I have now read Daniel Uziel's book and can highly recommend it to those interested in the German aviation industry. The chapter numbers are the ones provided by McFarland. Daniel's list to me is moved up one number for some unknown reason.

Chapter 1 provides the buildup of the German aircraft industry in the 30's. In perspective, Germany was in the throes of the great depression and, to add to its misery, still owed reparations to the Allies for WW I. Life, to say the least, was not easy. Hitler came into power in 1933 and virtually immediately ramped up the aviation industry. The period was the golden age for Germans working in the industry, with housing and other needs provided by the manufacturers. The improvement in worker's living standards was significant.

Chapter 2 basically gives an overview of the air war up until "Big Week". It hits the high points of key bombing raids affecting the industry. It ends with very short descriptions of the key aircraft. This chapter could have been expanded significantly and I was left with a feeling of wanting more.

Chapter 3, to me, is the heart of the book. Entitled "Reorganization of Aircraft Production", Uziel covers in detail the changes in the power structures during the last year and a half of the war as the general situation deteriorated. This is covered in the greatest detail that I have seen and yet, because of my interest, I wanted more. The last year is an especially difficult period to write about because of the difficulty of finding records. Having spent a year teasing out records at the NARA II and the NASM archives, not to lessen input from other sources, Uziel provides us with 426 references, the vast majority of them being primary material.

Chapter 4, "From Technological Expertise to Slave Labor", I began with great trepidation. One key point that Uziel makes is that Germany, even without the bombing, was short the required manpower to produce the aircraft it needed. With the war initiated, the meatgrinder of manpower became a fact of life. The war with Russia required repeated raiding of the country's manpower pools, including the aviation industry. Replacements for this lost manpower were brought in from other countries with 1-year contracts being provided. Also, efforts were made to utilize aviation companies in the conquered countries, but the results weren't all that successful. Heinkel was the first to consider the use of slave labor but, to do that, the SS had to be brought into the picture, as it was the last bastion of available labor. Himmler was only too happy to agree. And thus, the concentration camps became the source of replacement labor. As you might expect, treatment of this source of labor was pretty abominable, with long hours, little food, poor housing, and harsh treatment. With the SS guards, there was simply beastiality, beatings and ill-treatment for the slightest supposed rule infraction or failure to perform as expected. Uziel cites that treatment varied from deploable to passable. In general, treatment was better in auxiliary camps set up near the factories, while the worst generally occurred at the base camps.

Chapter 5, covering daily life in the factories, appears to be primarily from survivors' accounts. It does not cover production details, per se.

In both chapters 4 and 5, Uziel covers the treatment of concentration camp inmates with remarkable restraint. He provides the facts without doing what I would call "Nazi-bashing", just letting the situations speak for themselves without any particular color commentary.

Uziel concludes his book with a case study of the He 162. I know personally that the He 162 was particularly fascinating to him and thus he chose it, rather than the Me 262, as his case study. I have chided him in this, but he has argued that the Me 262 has been so heavily covered in other books that he wanted to put the focus rather on the He 162. As a matter of fact, this being my favorite topic, I was a bit chagrined that the Me 262 did not receive more attention. That isn't to say he has not covered it, but that the coverage is fragmented and rather incomplete. He also has taken an interest in the He 177 and goes into great detail on its long and difficult history.

It's an excellent book and will provide the reader with much background on the German aviation industry not found elsewhere.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Richard,


Thank you for the review, and your many years of hard work in the Luftwaffe research community. A few questions:

1) Does the book cover specific aircraft production such as dates, deliveries, numbers produced, including trials versions?

2) Does it mention specific materials shortages and replacements? Even in the case of machine tools, there is a report of the Germans secretly importing Wolfram (tungsten) from Spain.

3) Does it mention repair facilities, locations and details regarding numbers of aircraft serviced say, per month? Or by some other measure?


Kind regards,

Ed West

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Ed,

Simply, the answer is no to each of your questions. It is not that type of a book. What it does tell us about, and here I am focusing specifically on chapter 3, is the organizational structures and their changes, the people involved, the political infighting, and some details of the problems associated with some of the aircraft programs.

As an example, Milch retained say-so on aircraft production until early 1944, but was fighting a losing battle because he simply was losing priority versus Speer's armaments ministry which handled allocations for the other services. Since he and Speer were friends, he went to Speer and suggested they work together. This was after "Big Week" in Feb. 1944, which helped turn Speer's attitude in favor of giving more support to aircraft production. They both agreed, but Speer fell ill for a couple of months. So, in Speer's place, Saur was appointed. Milch attended a few of the meetings thereafter, but he was rather rapidly eased out of power and Saur, with his Jägerstab, had control essentially all to himself. Saur was not a particularly pleasant man, but he did get results.

That's a sampling of the sort of detail in the book. Uziel does discuss some of the aircraft programs, but not in the sort of detail that you have asked about.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Richard,


Thank you for your reply. I feel the title of the book is misleading. With all due respect for the author and his hard work, I think a title like "Slave Labor and the Luftwaffe" would have been more accurate. Internal rivalries are relevant but only as a side issue. The changing war situation was the driver that brought in the SS and their labor pool from the concentration camps. The decision to add detailed case studies on a few particular aircraft seems entirely out of place.

If the title was Arming the American Soldier in World War II, I would have expected a detailed list covering what was needed, who made it, how it was delivered, including the sinking of supply ships, for example, and how increased demand drove other named companies into providing more of whatever was required.


Regards,
Ed West

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Ed,

"Slave Labor and the Luftwaffe" would be a very inappropriate title for this book. Much of the book does not deal with the use of slave labor. The book does, however, focus heavily on the lack of available manpower and the various efforts to fill the gap, with slave labor being the last resort.

As for choosing the He 162 for his case study, Uziel's choice can be understood from the standpoint that it represented the final refinement in aircraft development and production management. Now, the use of the word "refinement" is somewhat misleading. If, for instance, this was not a wartime situation and Germany had the luxury to constantly improve the efficiency of its manufacturing methods, which is really what is going on in the world today, then his choice would be fitting. However, the whole cycle for the He 162 began about Sept. 1944 and the compression of the cycle was more a result of Germany's desperate situation. Planning for its mass production began long before the first test aircraft flew, meaning that modifications were constantly taking place in the production process, including retrofitting. It was a good example of how things were set up with limited resources in time, people, materiel, and transportation, although it appears that this and the entire production industry suffered from the collapsing transportation network.

The Me 262 might have been a better choice for illustration, although, while its gestation was rather long, it, too, entered service with much yet to be worked out.

As an aside, the work reported here reminds me of the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." In the movie, one of the Pythons in battle loses one limb after another, but continues to fight on, done so from a humorous standpoint. It was not so humorous for Germany, but the parallel is dead on. Germany's situation also parallels another movie from the early 1950's, "This Island Earth". Here, visitors from another planet try to enlist the aid of earth scientists to help them prevent the loss of their planet to an opponent. After establishing the premise and setting up a base here on earth, and urgent message comes from their home planet to come quickly, as the situation has become critical. The ship with the earth scientists arrives, but it is too late, as the visitor's planet is at the same stage of its war as Germany was in early May 1945. The crew of the ship does the honorable thing and returns the scientists to earth, their cause lost. The scenes of the losing war parallel what we have seen in newsreel footage of the last days of the Reich. The book intimately gives you the feel of the decline and desperate efforts to ward off the inevitable.

I would suggest that you buy the book, read it, then come back with your assessment. I've done my best to try to give everyone a decent idea as to what the book is about.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Richard,


I would not buy this book since it does not focus on the technical and manufacturing aspects I asked about earlier. For example, the luftwaffe leadership gave proposals to potential manufacturers late in the war for aircraft with specific characteristics such as range and and bomb load. It was also apparent that some manufacturers felt that proposals that used fewer strategic materials and wood, plus designs that would require fewer man-hours and unskilled workers, would be looked upon more favorably. There is also the issue of dispersal of production by the Germans.

It goes without saying that the Germans were in a desperate situation and their engineers and scientists simply kept on working. I think the United States would have done the same if it were in Germany's situation.


Regards,
Ed West

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Ed,

Some of the points you mention are, indeed, covered. As the book notes, the industry went from skilled labor to essentially unskilled labor and had to accomodate production because of this change. The hopes with utilizing contract labor were that some skill levels could still be brought to the tasks at hand. Even with the use of slave labor, initial efforts were focused on trying to go with those inmates that possessed skills.

Germany's conflicting goals of increased production and eliminating the Jews resulted, to a great extent, in treating concentration camp inmates as expendable resources, denying them adequate sustenance and care, literally working them to death. Add to this the brutality of their SS guards and Germany chewed up the one resource that they really needed. It was a classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face, a self-inflicted wound.

I found the book full of insight. Whether you want to spend the $45 to gain a basic understanding of the background to production of all those aircraft is up to you. I find it all fascinating. My view is I want to get beyond just X number of aircraft A produced and understand the background behind the numbers. Was the effort, in retrospect, worth it? Did Germany fail to address issues that could have made a meaningful difference? How did the war in the east affect the aviation industry? How did Allied strategy affect German planning?

What if, trying to project the potential ramifications of its planned actions, Germany would have chosen different objectives that might have resulted in a different outcome? In reading the book, you get an armchair view of where mistakes were made. That's not to say they weren't going to make them anyway, but you do develop a much better understanding of how they ended up losing the war.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Richard,


I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the book. Certainly, a subject like this needs to be covered. I will just bring up one point: It's one thing working slave labor to death digging tunnels. The skill required to use a pickax cannot be compared to riveting or wiring or welding. Aircraft are tested before leaving the plant. All pilots need to make sure their instruments are working prior to takeoff - their lives are at stake. Sure, I suppose you could just take the prisoner who did a bad job out to be shot with the next one brought in to replace him. In any case, there were many factors that led to the capitulation.


Regards,
Ed

Re: Arming the Luftwaffe
 

Dear Ed,

Slave labor was used on the production lines, not just in using pick axes.

Regards,
Richard