Bf 109 in Polish Campaign 1939

[crolick]

Originally Posted by Larry Hickey

Hello,

There is a massive study of the Polish Campaign air war that will be published in English next year that covers both sides in definitive detail. We probably will have to break it down into several parts. Our Polish AF historical research for the project is now finished and currently runs over 1250 typewritten pages. The volume(s) will cover the entire action almost hour by hour from every known source. Polish and German records have been very carefully matched against each other to avoid previously published exaggerations and errors. We are well aware of the propaganda and myths created by both sides around this air campaign and we have made every effort to avoid these. It glorifies the exploits of neither side, but tries to present the story in interesting, but carefully researched and unbiased history. As one of our sources on the German side, we've done a full translation into English of the excellent books and articles in Polish by Marius Emmerling. However, besides his works, we've used as sources every known KTB, FB, contemporary publication, memoir, etc. all translated into English and carefully matched against other records of both sides to eliminate errors, misinformation or propaganda. This also includes the results of all known postwar aircraft crash archaeology. This will cover all elements of the air war, which, besides bombers, fighter and ground attack units, includes information from all known sources on recon, transports and seaplanes, which have not been previously covered in the literature in any detail.

I don't know if there will be a market for a detailed history of this kind, but it will cover the Polish Campaign air war in definitive detail, illustrated by many, many maps, hundreds of aircraft color profiles, many hundreds of photos, etc. This will be the template publication (s) for following books on the Phoney War/Sitzkrieg/Scandinavian Campaign, several volumes on the WC/FC, and three volumes planned to cover the Battle of Britain/early Blitz to the end of 1940. I may go broke doing this if nobody buys the resulting publications, but at least the Polish Campaign will be done and in-print in a language that is accessible to almost every educated person anywhere in the world.

Larry - do you have any estimate of the price per volume?

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Marius, yes we've also fully used as source material your articles in German as well as Polish. I want to clearly state that sources for all of our material has been carefully documented and will be fully acknowledged and footnoted. Although translating and using the information published by Marius, we've gone far beyond that back to both the same original source documents that he used, plus many other sources as well, some of which he used and some of which he didn't. The real value of this historical material is that it will fully exploit the source material on both sides, which have been carefully matched against each other to arrive at the best objective truth possible. As an example, with the 3rd Volume in Polish that Marius wrote,the German Stuka operations, we have obtained and translated into English all of the KTBs known to exist for both the StG and the Schlacht Gruppe, all of which Marius used in his excellent work on the subject. We've tried to go back to original source material wherever that has been possible, not just rely on secondary sources published by other authors. All of this source material has then been translated into English to allow it to be used in our project.

Another aspect that we've put considerable effort into is correlating reports on the ground for both the Polish and German sides of air attacks from the other side. This has provided, in many cases, a much better understanding of the results of bombing and Stuka attacks against targets on the ground. To my knowledge, this has never been done before in any systematic way.

Mars, no formal title yet. Just for now EoE Project Polish Campaign.

If anyone thinks that they have information or photos to help us create this monumental project, please get in touch with me. Even after many years of intense research and work there are undoubtedly some sources that we have missed.

[Marius]

Originally Posted by Larry Hickey

Hello,

Marius, yes we've also fully used as source material your articles in German as well as Polish. I want to clearly state that sources for all of our material has been carefully documented and will be fully acknowledged and footnoted. Although translating and using the information published by Marius, we've gone far beyond that back to both the same original source documents that he used, plus many other sources as well, some of which he used and some of which he didn't. The real value of this historical material is that it will fully exploit the source material on both sides, which have been carefully matched against each other to arrive at the best objective truth possible. As an example, with the 3rd Volume in Polish that Marius wrote,the German Stuka operations, we have obtained and translated into English all of the KTBs known to exist for both the StG and the Schlacht Gruppe, all of which Marius used in his excellent work on the subject. We've tried to go back to original source material wherever that has been possible, not just rely on secondary sources published by other authors. All of this source material has then been translated into English to allow it to be used in our project.
If anyone thinks that they have information or photos to help us create this monumental project, please get in touch with me. Even after many years of intense research and work there are undoubtedly some sources that we have missed.

Hi Larry, I am happy my books and articles (so far) are of big help for the EOE project. More will follow soon!

Best regards,

[mars]

Originally Posted by Larry Hickey

Hello,

Mars, no formal title yet. Just for now EoE Project Polish Campaign.

.

Larry, please kind enough to give me updates, thanks!

[Mirek Wawrzynski]

Jerzy B. Cynk had made a "patriotic's book"

You do not know what you writing about? Marius this is pure nonses too, for our, Polish "patriotic authors" in fact you are not extist with books and articles.

This is no matter for me but it is matter for you because your works are not included in books printed by IPN or other titles about IX 39. The range and influece of them are higher then titles printed by a few Amragedon.

You and Robert Michuled do not undrestend this, and it has no matter too.

mw
PS
"Nie pluje się pod wiatr. Obaj Panowie pięknie to robicie, jak to lubicie to tak trzymać dalej Nie rozumiesz chłopie tego, szkoda gadać z tobą".

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Mirek Wawrzynski

You do not know what you writing about? Marius this is pure nonses too, for our, Polish "patriotic authors" in fact you are not extist with books and articles.

This is no matter for me

Mirek, another thing that seems not to matter to you is simple courtesy. Why are you apparently incapable of having a discussion without insulting people?

[Mirek Wawrzynski]

Why are you apparently incapable of having a discussion without insulting people?

1. If anything I do not like it I say it straight and I'm not two-faced. For many people it is certainly very difficult to understand, it's their problem.

2. I do not like the personal terror of political correctness, lies and fraud. Many people think otherwise, it is their will.

3. It is not true but your wrong and emotional opinion.


Probably you do not know but if you add to man's name words "author of patriotic's book" it is direct insult and personal attack - very negative emotional attitiue. The same when I would say "Marius Emmerling is the author of Nazi/fascist books". I think that it is not true and false opinion.

For me, as one of Polish author, when one man would say to me directly M. Wawrzyński your are an author of "patriotic books", such a man almost begin the war with me. I do not wish to hear it, it is total nonsens it is against my good name.

I have respect towards J.B. Cynk, I well know as he writes (with all pluses & minuses ect.). Personaly do no like, that M. Emmerling attacked person, who I respect for his work and who fully deserve for it, and who can not defend himself.

Private/public wars and predjudites of M. Emmrling, which he had fought on Polish newspappers versus J.B. Cynk for several years are well know for me, but are not know for English readers.

Nick you are 100% wrong and do not know many things about this or others topics about Polish "subject".

Sometimes it is better do not insert your/own fingers between the door.


mw
PS

Nice is not true and true is not nice.

[Marius]

Originally Posted by Mirek Wawrzynski

Probably you do not know but if you add to man's name words "author of patriotic's book" it is direct insult and personal attack - very negative emotional attitiue.
...
I have respect towards J.B. Cynk, I well know as he writes (with all pluses & minuses ect.). Personaly do no like, that M. Emmerling attacked person, who I respect for his work and who fully deserve for it, and who can not defend himself.

Private/public wars and predjudites of M. Emmrling, which he had fought on Polish newspappers versus J.B. Cynk for several years are well know for me, but are not know for English readers.

Another nonsenses Mr.Wawrzynski!
The truth is that J.B.Cynk attacked me - not with arguments or interesting documents but PERSONALLY, because I published articles in Poland which HE DID NOT LIKE. In my work Polish pilots achieved much too less victories and apparently this makes some (patriotic?) people angry and aggressive.

I am sure J.B.Cynk did not see too many German papers and his furious attacks against an author publishing material from original documents were not wise - as we can see now after several years. Also the EOE analytic work will show that all Mr. Emmerling published is well documented. You should read what Larry wrote a few hours ago and not jump over things which not agree with your fantastic visions.

Nobody is attacking Mr. Cynk or whoever here. It is only your wish it should be so, because you need a pretext against (German?) people looking at the history with different eyes and using documents - also those “troublesome”.

It is not fair spreading lies over here that my work is not included in Polish books printed about September 1939. A few examples just from my shelf nearby:
- PZL.37 Los (AJ-Press 2006)
- 31.Eskadra Rozpoznawcza (ZP Grupa 2008)
- Pierwszy Dzien (Altair 2008)
- Wilenski III/5 Dywizjon Mysliwski (Vesper 2010)
- Lwowski III/6 Dywizjon Mysliwski (Vesper 2011)
- 24 Eskadra Rozpoznawcza 1939 (Stratus 2012)
- Krakowski III/2 Dywizjon Mysliwski (Vesper 2012)
- Z historii polskiego lotnictwa na Slasku Cieszynskim w latach 1912-1939 (Cieszyn 2012)
- IV/1 Dywizjon Mysliwski (Vesper 2013)

Do you need more ???!!!

Originally Posted by Mirek Wawrzynski

This is no matter for me but it is matter for you because your works are not included in books printed by IPN or other titles about IX 39.

IPN ?
Here is my answer.
- Wielun byl pierwszy (IPN 2009)
- Wielun 1 IX 1939 R. (IPN 2009)

Target completely missed Mr. Wawrzynski.

Cheers!

[Mirek Wawrzynski]

To Larry Hickey.

I wonder what is your vision of a size such publication? All what you have are to big to be fully edited!

mw

[Larry Hickey]

Crolick,

I have no idea about price, and I won't until we get this all laid out with a totally finished manuscript and all the artwork, maps and photos in place. I've invested a small fortune in this project, far more than at least the Polish Campaign volume(s) will ever return in sales under current market conditions. I've done this because of my dedication to air war history, and to set a new standard for the entire "Eagles over Europe" Project publication series. There may be several ways this material is published, hardbound (expensive) volumes, many soft cover smaller volumes and/or eBooks, or all of the above.

Here is an excerpt (slightly edited) that I wrote directly to someone else this morning that defines the problem and my current dilemma about the way forward. Keep in mind that I live in the USA, but the books could be printed anywhere in the world, even in Poland.

"Regarding the market for the books on the PC in Europe, one of the big problems is distribution. Individual books (that I already sell) now are all shipped by air (from the USA) by postal authorities, and the books I publish weigh a lot because they have high page-counts and use high-quality enamel-coated paper to hold the quality of the artwork, maps and illustrations. This adds US $45-65 in postage to books shipped from the USA to anywhere outside North America, which on top of a high cost for the books themselves, makes them prohibitive to anyone but the people with the most serious interest AND who have the money to buy them. Many Polish (and other) aviation enthusiasts can't afford them. I must figure out some way to warehouse an inventory in Europe (co-publication with a company that already has a well-established distribution and marketing effort??). This is something yet to be solved. In any event, I presently see it unlikely to work out a system that will begin to return a significant amount of the very large amount of money spent on that part (Polish Campaign) of the "Eagles Over Europe" project to date. Maybe the later books will be in high demand, but I'm not sure that the PC has sufficient market potential to be a financial success under any realistic scenario."

That pretty well defines the problem. I'm open to all possible solutions to get these books to the largest number of people of the interested reading public, but the huge and continuing decline in the financial health of the worldwide print media (books, magazines and newspapers) is making this problematic. My small publishing company has an ongoing experiment with eBooks. We've turned one of my expensive Southwest Pacific Air Campaigns books into an eBook, but sales have been very limited, and some people are having e-reader compatibility problems with the very complex text, photos and tables. There is no easy solution to the format, distribution and marketing problems that this project will experience as it moves to publicaion.

So Crolick, you see what anyone in quality aviation publishing is facing right now, and how it is impossible to answer your question at this point. I just don't know the answer, but I'm open to reasonable suggestions.