Announce: Book K.Gr. z.b.V. 102
 

Hello,

the book "Die Geschichte der Kampfgruppe zur besonderen Verwendung 102 (K.Gr. z.b.V. 102, ab Mai 1943 III./T.G. 3) 1940-1945" is finished and by the author self-published in a small edition.

Author: Klaus Lieneke
Language: German
Hardcover
127 pages DIN-A4
ISBN: - (Sales are only made through the author.)

The book contains no maps, no copies of dokuments, no photos.
The price for the book is Euro 24,00 plus Euro 7,00 for postage and packaging (for delivery within Germany). For delivery to Netherland or Great Britain, for example, the price is Euro 24,00 plus Euro 11,00.
Delivery against prepayment.
If you are interested in purchasing the book, please place an order by PM or Email (Klaus[dot]Lieneke[at]t-online[dot]de.

Kind regards
Klaus Lieneke

Re: Announce: Book K.Gr. z.b.V. 102
 

Klaus

While interesting enough, may I please ask you advise us what the book does contain instead of what it does not?

Since I am not German speaking (reading) can we expect easy to understand tables of losses, commanders etc.

Does it contain a sort of day-by-day narrative style or is it based upon "seen-through-the-eyes" of a couple of individuals who flew with the unit?

Cheers
Stig

Re: Announce: Book K.Gr. z.b.V. 102
 

Hello,

the text of the book is bases on archive documents (especially MA Freiburg), reports from former members of the group and the evaluation of approx. 60 flight books.

Each chapter (21 in total, not a sort of day-by-day narrative style) contains a list of personnel and machine losses too. The respective theater of war is explanined at the beginning of each chapter.

A total of 516 notes provide informations, for example for used archive documents.

A copy of the table of contents can be requested by email (because of the size attachment is not possible).

KR
Klaus Lieneke

Re: Announce: Book K.Gr. z.b.V. 102
 

I just received my copy of this book, and I'm extremely impressed. The contents reflect the author's expertise and extensive research into all aspects of the Transportflieger.

The book covers the unit's entire wartime history and includes:

• detailed mission accounts and/or operational summaries for all campaigns, from "Weserübung" (Norway) in 1940 to the last flights in May 1945.
• many personal accounts
• detailed loss lists, including cause, location, personnel, aircraft code & serial number, and percentage damage
• lots of helpful details such as unit movements, unit leaders, aircraft readiness counts, cargo descriptions and metrics, take-off/landing times, etc.
• 530 footnotes (!), plus an extensive list of sources, incl. archival material, flugbücher, personal letters & interviews, and secondary sources

As the author explains in his postscript, the book does not include any maps, copies of documents, or photos, but he hints that these might be provided in a supplemental volume -- something to look forward to.

It's a high-quality, hardbound binding. It's a bit unusual in that the pages are single-sided, but this doesn't detract at all -- it provides plenty of space for making annotations.

The book is similar in scope to Georg Schlaug's fine volume* on II./KGzbV 1, which later became II./TG 1. Together with Morzik and Hümmelchen's general Transportflieger history*, I think these three books are essential reference works for anyone interested in the Luftwaffe's transport operations and the Ju 52.

Excellent value and highly recommended!

Leon Venter
(Disclaimer: I have no association with Herr Lieneke. I'm just glad he published his book.)

--------------------------
* References:

• "Geschichte einer Transportflieger-Gruppe im II. Weltkrieg" by Georg Schlaug, published by the Kameradschaft ehemaliger Transportflieger, 1989
• "Die deutschen Transportflieger im Zweiten Weltkrieg" by Fritz Morzik and Gerhard Hümmelchen, published by Bernard & Graefe, 1966

Re: Announce: Book K.Gr. z.b.V. 102
 

Hi Leon:

The II./KG z.b.V. 1 book was written by Georg Schlaug? He has been a good friend and steady correspondent of mine for nearly 30 years now and this is the first I have heard of this. Of course, he is the author of the seminal work on the German glider units as well as many, many interesting magazine articles on the transport units, but I didn't know about the II./KG z.b.V. 1 book. I have the Kameradschaft title, so I guess I had better take another look? Can you tell me on what page his name as the author appears?

Thanks,

Larry deZeng

Re: Announce: Book K.Gr. z.b.V. 102
 

Hi Larry,

I'm glad you asked because my earlier post was a bit misleading. Georg is actually listed on the title page as the book's compiler/editor (see attached image.) A subsequent page (p.11) lists all the writers plus the contributors of documents and photos, so it was very much a team effort. It's a rather distinguished list with many well-known names, incl. Balke, Kössler, Ott, Petrick, Radinger, Schlaug and Weber.

I think I can save you some time here -- it's one and the same book! The title on the cover reads "Geschichte einer Transportflieger-Gruppe im II. Weltkrieg", but on the title page it reads "Die II. Kampfgeschwader zur besonderen Verwendung 1, 1938-1943, umbenannt in II. Transportgeschwader 1". It's confusing as all heck because some booksellers list the book by its cover title, and others list it by the one on the title page. That's how I ended up with two copies... :-)

Hope that helps,
Leon Venter

Re: Announce: Book K.Gr. z.b.V. 102