Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945
 

Hi,

I have just noticed, that over 30 years ago W. Dierich published a book titled "Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945" ("Luftwaffe Units 1935-1945"). According to book's description it is a chronicle of all (?) Luftwaffe air and ground units formed until the end of WW II. I wonder if it is worth to buy it. Does anyone here have this book? I would like to take a look at a few sample pages.

Thanks in advance!

Regards

Re: Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945
 

Hello Recceswind,

cfr her: http://www.booklooker.de/B%C3%BCcher...fe+1935+-+1945


Greetings
Redcap50

Re: Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945
 

Thanks Redcap - if I decide to buy this book, I will buy it at booklooker.de. Nevertheless my question is still unanswered: is it worth to buy this book? Is it a must-have book for Luftwaffe researcher?

Re: Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945
 

Recceswind

Even though it is a big book (some 700 pages), only 286 pages are devoted to flying units. The rest deals with Flak, Signal units, Paratroop units and Luftwaffe Field Divisions.

I cannot say that "the rest" is my primary interest, but I always found it useful to have such details in one single pack. It was published in 1976 and much water has flown under the bridges since, and I have not checked the contents with later more detailed publications.

Depending on how much details you want from each unit, the Dierich book doesn't give much details about each unit, so again its strength to me is in fact "the rest"... ;)

Cheers
Stig

Re: Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945
 

I have had a copy of this book since 1978. In its time it filled a gap as there were few unit histories published. The content per unit varied wildly with useful coverage for recon but barely a listing for transports. Fighter unit coverage was extremely superficial and similarly for bombers. What remains great about this book is its general coverage, and includes many obscure units. However, the passage of 35+ years has meant that for air units it has been totally and massively surpassed by more recent works.

Conclusion: it belongs in a serious collection for the sake of completeness, but as a reference it has extremely limited value.

These days I use mine mainly to prop up other books where they overhang my scanner!

Re: Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935 - 1945
 

Doug,

You have very modestly neglected to specify yours and Larry's contributions to this subject. I should think that "Bomber Units" and "Ground-attack Units", combined with Prien's Jagdfliegerverbaende, are the best sources for Luftwaffe air units that currently exist. Of course, as Larry is right to insisit, the air units were only a small part of the Luftwaffe's overall labyrinthine organisation!

Regards,

Paul