[John Vasco]

The remaining chapters

I will go through the remaining chapters collectively, since the tenor of the book is well established by now.

Chapter 16 early pages about Bomber Command attacks (3 pages). Army signalman’s views (2 pages). Then more on Sealion. More on what was happening in Germany. Peter Stahl quoted again about a raid he conducted in May 1941! Civilian losses 1940-41. Pages of general chit-chat. More quotes from a Lw Unteroffizier based in Lyon, and an anti-aircraft gunner named Raynor.
Page 293: ‘…Thus by 6 December 1941 – two days before the United States of America entered the war – the Luftwaffe had a mere 468 serviceable bombers…’. At this point I’m thinking, ‘Jeez, spare me this 100% off-topic crap!
Quoting from the Sorauer Tageblatt of a Lw sortie on 24 January 1944! And so it goes on…

Chapter 17 goes on about Sealion and post-war interrogation of Göring (several pages), and Kesselring’s memoirs. Also, post-war snippets from Kurt Student and Werner Baumbach. She then goes on to the ‘Battle of Britain’ film, and Galland’s intervention in certain scenes. Then about the matter of shooting enemy in parachutes. Then about attacking German aircraft with Red Cross markings. On page 313 she references the film ‘The Dambusters’ with regard to civilian losses.

Chapter 18 – titled ‘Better liars than flyers’. First four pages actually cover incidents in the BoB. Then pages on the political ties of the Luftwaffe to the Third Reich regime. Goes on about individuals with sinister pasts in joining in with the killing of jews. Whereas such acts are totally despicable, what has that particular matter got to do with the Battle of Britain? Pages about the terrorisation of the population in occupied countries from 1939 onwards, including Poland, the western European countries, and Norway. Then three pages concerning the involvement of Luftwaffe doctors in experiments on concentration camp inmates.

The final chapter is titled ‘Conclusion’. Some of the content; ‘…Eagle Days, then, has striven to provide a truly exhaustive account of life and death for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain…’ Er, don’t think so! Exhaustive? What a load of bollocks that is! ‘…this book has also invited its readers to consider the campaign from a fresh and unique perspective…’ I was still looking for this fresh and unique perspective at the end of the last page! ‘…What Eagles Days has done is to write the rest of the Luftwaffe back into the story of the Battle of Britain…’ ‘…So, Eagle Days fully documents how the Luftwaffe was able to sustain its morale during its first protracted campaign…’ Pass me the puking bucket! What a load of self-opinionated crap!

Apologies for this rather long post, but I felt it better to wrap it up with a single post rather than four.