[Nick Beale]

I just received my copy and first impressions are very good. Neil has described the physical format and I concur. I can't remember enough of Ulf Balke's KG 100 book (which I briefly borrowed from a friend many years ago) to know how far this text goes beyond his. There are some decidedly odd renditions of British place names, perhaps derived from difficult German handwriting rather than a map.

The photographic content is far more extensive than Balke's, with masses of He 111 and He 177 shown, many of them after various mishaps. He also reproduces some documents such as certificates for sinking ships, maps and unit Christmas cards. What he hasn't overcome is the lack of photos of missile-carrying Do 217s (and especially the long-span version). The colour profiles reflect the photographic content, with four Do 217 (none later than 1943) but large numbers of Heinkels and a lone Ar 196.

There are appendices of losses and personnel (oddly enough Roderich Cescotti, although quoted in the book, is missing from the latter).

The list of sources is relatively brief and consists mostly of published works. Personal obsession: he doesn't seem on first reading to have used Ultra directly as a source, rather quoting R.V. Jones (whose account I've found generally very reliable) re intelligence on Knickebein and X-Gerät. Incidentally, Roba says Knickebein was named after a cocktail.

The cover says that this is the first of a series on bomber units.