Seeking Book Recommendations
 

Back in high school and college I took German classes for 5 years and had become fairly fluent. Those classes ended in 1983 however...

Early this year I decided it was time to re-learn to read German (fortunately I still have all of my textbooks and dictionaries from long ago). The re-learning process (aided by a translation app on my phone) went easier than expected so a few months ago I purchased Schmidt's Achtung! Torpedos Los!; reading it went well so then I bought vol. 2 of Ulf Balke's work on KG 2, which I'm now reading.

So I'm looking for recommendations of German-language Luftwaffe unit histories. Any type of unit is ok, though priority for me would be JG or KG units. Preference for area(s) of operation is NWE, followed by Med., followed by Eastern Front.

Criteria I seek is:
1. Accuracy
2. Detail (for missions and aerial combats) - more is better, there's no such thing as too much detail in my eyes.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

Re: Seeking Book Recommendations
 

Hi Steve,

You're off to a good start there with Ulf Balke. Here are some more suggestions for unit histories by highly-regarded authors that are available only in German:

Jagdgeschwader:

• "Jagdgeschwader 1 und 11, Bände 1/2/3" by Jochen Prien, Peter Rodeike
• "Jagdgeschwader 27, Bände 1/2/3" by Jochen Prien, Peter Rodeike, Gerhard Stemmer
• "Geschichte des Jagdgeschwaders 77, Bände 1/2/3/4" by Jochen Prien
• "Am Himmel Frankreich: Die Geschichte des JG 2 'Richthofen', Bände 1/2/3/4/5/.." by Erik Mombeek, Jean-Louis Roba
• "Eismeerjäger: Zur Geschichte des Jagdgeschwaders 5, Bände 1/2/3" by Erik Mombeek
• "Die Geschichte des Jagdgeschwaders 52, Bände 1/2/3/4" by Bernd Barbas

Also, although not a regular unit history, the Jagdfliegerverbände series by Jochen Prien and his team is the ultimate reference on the Jagdgeschwader units. It's currently up to 27 volumes and counting...

Kampfgeschwader:

• "Über allen Fronten: Chronik des Kampgeschwaders 6, 1941 bis 1945" by Jan Horn
• "Die Spur des Löwen: Die Weg des Löwengeschwaders durch Europa (KG 26)" by Alexander Steenbeck
• "Chronik Kampfgeschwader Nr. 27 'Boelcke', Bände 1/2/3/4/5/6/7" by Walter Waiss
• "Die Geschichte des Lehrgeschwaders 1, Bände 1/2" by Peter Taghon

Hope that helps,
Leon Venter.

Re: Seeking Book Recommendations
 

Thank you Leon!

Re: Seeking Book Recommendations
 

Steve

I hope you have a very fat wallet....:)

Cheers
Stig

Re: Seeking Book Recommendations
 

Not as fat as I would like!

I'm still young though (55) so hopefully time is on my side.

Re: Seeking Book Recommendations
 

I might be able to help with a few of these...

IIRC I can offer the mentioned JG-1/11 series...

Drop me a pm if you are interested...

Ps.:

Additionally I might be able to offer the history of KG-54 also known as Flurschadengeschwader...