Hitler's Strategic Bombing Offensive on the Eastern Front: Blitz Over the Volga, 1943

[Nokose]

I just finished this book and it was very informative on the German bomber raids against Gorky and other industrial targets around Moscow in June 1943. The author details every raid both from the German bombers in the air and the experiences of the Russians on the ground in the target areas. He doesn’t hold back on his criticism of Stalin’s military and civilian industrial structure. The Russian night fighters did a miserable job in defending these targets from German bomber attacks. He describes the attacks on the bombers and the few successes that they achieved. German evaders episodes are described and interrogations of German POWs. The German mine warfare on the Volga River to the Caspian Sea is also covered. The myth of Russian tank factories destroyed during the raids is also examined. It has plenty of pictures of the destruction inflicted on the Russian factories. Still the damage is analyzed from the the raids on the Russian war production. Still I found small mistakes like on occasions of comparisons of side by side Moscow and Berlin times, he has two hour time differences having not taken into account the Summertime change of Berlin time, thus reducing it to one hour difference. He also has a translator that listed Shturmovik as “storm trooper”, it would have been better as assault aircraft or just Shturmovik. My eyes started glazing over with the last chapters concerning Herman Goring and his effect on the Luftwaffe and his command of it. Still a very readable book, despite kindle’s cramming words together.