Osprey futur title Jagdverband 44: The Luftwaffe’s Mavericks

[edwest2]

We are far removed from those events. Also, we do not have the original participants to consult with and clarify or dispute any points. I think it is odd to see "disillusioned" or "war weary." I recall reading Adolf Galland's first impression of flying the Me 262: "It felt like angels were pushing me."

Whether or not the men involved felt like "outcasts" or "exiles," they acquitted themselves well. American G.I.s thought they would be home by Christmas, 1944. I am wary of books that look at the mental state of people whose legacy lies in their accomplishments, which occurred as recorded and regardless of their emotional state or official or unofficial status. Like all good soldiers, they fought for their country.

As an aside, I've grown tired of seeing "war-winning" applied to the V-2 or Me 262 and other German developments from the war. Pilots were fighting in the heimat. A photo was published in Luftwaffe im Focus that showed an Me 262 pilot standing next to his mother. He had baled out near his house. Good soldiers fight till the end, even when all appears lost.

[Orwell1984]

Originally Posted by edwest2

Good soldiers fight till the end, even when all appears lost.

So according to your logic, any one who surrenders is not a good soldier? The soldiers who surrendered in the Philippines? Not good soldiers. The soldiers who surrendered at Dunkirk? Not good soldiers. The Canadians captured in Hong Kong and Dieppe, not good soldiers? Countless other examples throughout history.

To clarify is this what you meant? Because it certainly reads like this is what you meant.

[edwest2]

My comment was specific to the Luftwaffe in this case.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by edwest2

We are far removed from those events. Also, we do not have the original participants to consult with and clarify or dispute any points.

I don't want to get into the TOCH habit of reviewing books we haven't yet seen. I'll just confirm that for his 1996 JV 44 book (to which, full disclosure, I contributed material) Robert did interview a number of JV 44 veterans, Galland included.

Originally Posted by edwest2

I think it is odd to see "disillusioned" or "war weary." I recall reading Adolf Galland's first impression of flying the Me 262: "It felt like angels were pushing me."

The angels did their pushing in (IIRC) early 1943. Germany's situation in April 1945 was radically different.

Originally Posted by edwest2

Whether or not the men involved felt like "outcasts" or "exiles," they acquitted themselves well. American G.I.s thought they would be home by Christmas, 1944.

Agreed that there was a lot of wishful thinking about when it would all end, but JV 44 only deployed to Riem on 1 April 1945 and it's worth considering where the front lines were by then.

Originally Posted by edwest2

Like all good soldiers, they fought for their country.

As I've said here before, it's very hard to fight for your country without fighting for the people in charge of it.

Originally Posted by edwest2

As an aside, I've grown tired of seeing "war-winning" applied to the V-2 or Me 262 and other German developments from the war.

I agree absolutely. The more German documents I read, the better I grasp that so many of the "advanced" aircraft that interest postwar readers were seen at the time as disappointments, although the Me 262 is perhaps an exception. The Ar 234 B was seen as deficient in speed and range, and it was hoped the C-series would fix that; the Do 335, with no rear view, was only seen to have any future in reconnaissance and (maybe) night-fighting; the Ta 152's pressure-cabin wouldn't work reliably; the Me 163 produced "meagre success"; and so on.

[edwest2]

Thank you Nick. I was quite specific. This was no attempt at a book review, just commentary about the book's description.