Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

According to the publisher's site, this one should be out:

http://fm.greenhillbooks.com/greenhi...id=33443&-find=



Usual disclaimer,
Ed

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Although the title clearly says: 'The Luftwaffe over Germany', I am wondering if the authors covered the air war over smaller Axis countries as well, like Hungary or Rumania?

On a related matter, Don Caldwell used to post here quite frequently; however, I haven't seen his name pop up here in the last year or so. I am wondering whatever happened to him and his well informed and informative posts?

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Don Caldwell did post on this site a few years back, but not lately. As I remember, he described this book as a detailed study of the Defense of the Reich.

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

He disliked the new forum and if I recall correctly the general way the board was run. Too much bickering and too little control. As always I can't help it if people disagree with the way TOCH is run.

I am always open to suggestions though.

Haven't seen or heard of him for quite some time, but am looking foward to his new book. Although I don't expect it to be as detailed as his previous work, judging by his high standards it must be a good study.

Thanks for the update Ed.

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

You're welcome Ruy.



Ed

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Luftwaffe over Germany is listed on Amazon.com with a release date of 01May07 with a retail price of $49.95 but they have it for I believe $32.95.

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

I well recall Mr Caldwell's last post on TOCH - it was an enquiry about the availability of Volume II of the JG 300 history (French edition) some two years ago - not surprising since Reichsverteidigung was almost exclusively the preserve of this Geschwader through September 44 to March 45 - by March 1945 JG300 was virtually the only Jagdgeschwader with an operational aircraft complement close to that of its theoretical stength. Mr Caldwell had nothing on the unit...even Ernst Schroeder had declined to help him in view of the imminent publication - or so we thought - of the JG 300 history. It would be ironic if Mr Caldwell now managed to get his work out ahead of this having no doubt masterfully exploited it....

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

This looks dangerously close to another personal attack. You say "no doubt" without offering any evidence at all to back up your apparent certainty on the subject. Why don't you wait until you've read the book before you make accusations like that?

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

my 'evidence' is in my post - that and Mr Caldwell's stated intention in his last post here to utilise the data in the JG 300 volume - I imagine you could verify his exact words easily enough.
you think there's doubt that he would ..? a writer working in the area of Reichsverteidigung is hardly going to ignore a major two volume history of the leading Reichs defence Geschwader....no, my 'attack' - if you want to construe it as such - was rather more subtle than that....

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Not subtle at all, in my view, since the words "no doubt having masterfully exploited" seem unlikely to have been intended as anything other than pejorative. If you meant them as a sincere compliment then of course I apologise.

Since Caldwell's book is not yet published, neither you nor I have any idea to what extent it may draw on other published sources, nor what acknowledgement those sources may receive. So why not wait until you've actually read it?

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Don Caldwell still visits the board, as can be easily tracked by the virtues of the possibilities of this board. I also checked his posting on Vol. II of JG 300. Nothing wrong with that. As soon as someone has published his data it is in the open and can be used by everyone as long as properly quoted (what Don said he would do in his post). The fact that the English version of Vol. II is so much delayed should be blamed on the publisher.

Cheers,

John.

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Let's keep this constructive.

Even if his research is based, in part, on previously published material it still depends on how it is implemented and finally presented. The end result can still be original and a valuable addition to any collection.

Regardless how he does it, I expect Caldwell to deliver a well written book on the subject of Reichsverteidigung. This expectation is such that the book has been placed on my pre-order list. A critical reappraisal can always be delivered after reading it...

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

John you are (so) right ...and I agree with your last too Ruy..

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else yet ....similar subject and somewhat bigger if the blurb is anything to go by...a new 500-page tome due this month from Bernard & Graefe

Die Reichsverteidigung 1943-1945. Die Luftwaffe in der Defensive von Dieter Hölsken

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Is this the same Dieter Hölsken who wrote the big book on the V-2 for Monogram?

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Hello all:

The book should have reached the UK by now and will be in stores there shortly. The American copublisher, MBI, gets its books from Greenhill instead of directly from the printer, which explains the "May" date quoted by Amazon. Rich and I argued successfully to get the swastikas removed from the cover so that it can be displayed in Germany and elsewhere on the Continent. We're hoping for wide distribution of the book. As for its quality, readability, completeness of citations, etc., I'd recommend at least waiting for some knowledgeable reviews, rather than bickering about something you haven't seen. Ruy will be getting a review copy, so you can badger him to review it.

I've been very busy with this book for the past couple of years, but should have more time in the future for this forum. I was put off by the complexity of its new format for a while, but that was my problem, and I've overcome it. There does seem to be less exchange of information than there used to be, and more petty bickering, which I don't like at all. I've observed and mentioned previously that many of the squabbles seem to originate in language misunderstandings. Native English-speakers need to avoid slang and jargon. Some of the rest of you use expressions that are stronger and more insulting in English than you may intend. More use of dictionaries by the contibutors will save all of us a lot of time.

Horrido!

Don

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

You can freely display books with swastikas (Finnish or German) on the cover in Finland. So far we have not been polluted by Fischer-Merkelianism.

Waiting for those reviews with interest, BTW!

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

it is no problem to display books with this black thing on it here in Austria either.
it has to be a scientific publication though and has to have an appropriate ISBN number I was told by my bookdealer.

anyhow, I am looking forward to that new book-should be available here in Vienna in about one weeks or two I was told, depending on how fast the transport agencies can get back into business after the Easter holidays :D

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

...and for those in the UK who are also members of the Military & Aviation Book Society (or any BCA Book/Video Club I think), you can pre-order this volume for £17.99 (+P&P) using the order code 4721254...

Kind regards,

Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

..my copy has arrived and I've been dipping in and out of it ever since. My comments & concerns earlier on this particular thread aren't really valid at all.. in fact I'd go so far as to ask why the authors would want to use older sources such as Jung, Hennig & Bethke or Rose - as they do on occasion when dealing with JG 300...Bretschneider downed by flak on 24 December 44 ? - thats from Hennig & Bethke I guess..the Kommandeur of the 'newly-formed' IV./JG 300 lost on 17 December..? Maj. Heino Offterdinger survived the war - pictures of his 'Green 45' taken in March 1945 feature in the JG 300 book. Elsewhere the account of Walfeld's II./JG 300 ramming on 11 September is taken from Dahl - unfortunately Wahlfeld (spelling) was a Sturmstaffel pilot and this incident occured in January or March 1944 and was featured on the cover of an edition of the Berlin Illustrierte. Similarly the G-6 photo taken from Jung on P234 is not 'Yellow 2' in the fall of 1944 but 'Red 12' in the summer of 43 at Hangelar..

Enough nit-picking- the JG 300 stuff is only a very small part of the whole. It would be very churlish of me not to say that I'm enjoying this. The book is relatively large format, 320 pages, and the narrative scope is a lot wider than I imagined it might be - there's a lot of reading here and the material is superbly organised with any number of different themes cropping up throughout. Chapters 1 & 2 cover the period 1914-1941, while other chapters deal with the 'Oil campaign', 'The big 'blow' that never fell' and 'The final desperate expedients'. The text is detailed, very readable and well written, with most 'big' dates (7 July 44, 27 Sept, 2 November, 14 January 45, 24 March 45) given reasonable treatment within the space allowed - perhaps the Sturmgruppen really merited a chapter of their own although this would admittedly have made it very difficult to organise the rest of the material ...

Photographic content is OK.. There are of course a number of pictures of JG 26 personalities (perhaps too many portraits, but I guess they were easier to lay out) while I have to say a good number of shots were new to me - the schraege Musik Fw 190 for one.. Otherwise the text has a good number of pilot accounts - although some of these are curtailed no doubt for reasons of space, eg Ernst Schroeder's long account from 17 December 1944, or II./JG 300 Guenter Kuring's description of his ramming of a B-17 on 14 January 45. The maps and diagrams are good as is the lengthy discussion of fighter command and control techniques and organisation, fighter doctrine, morale and motivation (a little familiar that passage) and the summing up. A little irritatingly perhaps the authors use their term 'RLV' throughout - I'm sure this came up in discussion here before, but all things considered is probably a useful shorthand..

conclusion .. within one set of covers this is quite probably the best overview in English on the subject..in fact there's no contest ... (9 out of 10)

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

I agree with Neil with his rating :)

I cannot comment too much about the historical accuracy, but what I have read so far, this is surely the best book about the efforts of the LW to defend Germany´s airspace.
definitely recommended for every serious LW book collector and the interested enthusiast alike.

cheers
phil

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Well, I'm eagerly waiting my copy from Amazon---it's been kicked back to May 30th, but the authors' prior works are any indication, it'll be well worth the wait...besides, I got a copy of 'First Team at Guadacanal' to go with it! Talk about an early birthday present!

NickM

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Thx for the tip Peter ;)

Re: Luftwaffe over Germany - available?
 

Guys:

OK I got it & finally finished reading it; like everything else I've read from the authors, I was NOT disappointed--in short-I loved it! Plenty of info RE: the politics, the industry, the organization of the Defense of the Reich, Orders of battle, as well as pretty informative thumbnails descriptions of various air battles between the LW and the 8th AAF and, pleasantly enough, the 15th AAF too! Lotsa personal recollections too! Some surprising nuggets of info too, ESPECIALLY RE: the 15th AAF---I didn't know that heavy losses temporarily forced them out of participation in the strategic bomber offensive on a couple of occasions and that certain gruppen assigned to the defense of the Southern parts of the Reich used some very different tactics to deal with 'Heavies', than were used by gruppen facing the 8h AAF;

Now since I am just a history buff rather than a historian, I didn't really notice anything GLARINGLY incorrect; other than ONE TYPO (III/JG7 was accidentally referred to as III/JG6, but ONLY one time!) I am blissfully unaware of any other errors omissions in the book;

NickM

In short, this is a terrific book & REALLY deserves a place in your personal library!