Battle Of Britain Books

[Jim Oxley]

I've been an avid book collector since I was knee high to a grasshopper. One of the pleasures of collecting books over many years is that you never get tired of them. And can happily pick up one from 30-40 years ago and enjoy reading it as much as a new one.. Bit like an old slipper.

When I review the books I have on the Battle of Britain I can see that there is a definite hole in my collection. I have many novels and even more historical books, but none really that are pictorial in format and only two that even come close to addressing the Battle from the German side ie Gallands "The First and the Last" and Caldwell's "The JG26 War Dairies".

And they are the two aspects that I want to cover. So I would appreciate any recommendations. As far as pictorial books go ideally I would prefer ones that address both the RAF and the Luftwaffe, men and machines. And any books written on the Battle covering it from the German side (in English) would be greatly appreciated. It would be ideal if the Kampf was addressed in detail, but Kampf or Jagd is fine.[/IMG]

[fsbofk]

I too have a lengthy period of interest in the Battle, and have collected my share of books on the subject. Here are some of them:

Pictorials -
The Battle of Britain - Then and Now / ed. Ramsey (indispensable reference)
Battle over Britain / Mason (also indispensable reference)
The Blitz - Then and Now / ed. Ramsey (Volumes 1 and 2 cover the BoB period; also also indispensable references)
The Battle of Britain / Bickers (well illustrated general reference)
Their Finest Hour / Kaplan (coffee-table variety but well illustrated)
Target England / Wood (excellent photographic survey)
The Battle of Britain: The Photographic Kaleidoscope / Sarkar (4 volumes of photos of pilots and aircraft from personal collections)

Narratives/Histories from British side:
The Narrow Margin / Wood & Dempster (early but still good general history)
The Hardest Day / Price (covers events of 18 August 1940)
Scramble / Gelb (individual accounts)
RAF Fighter Squadrons in the Battle of Britain / Robinson (short histories of participating squadrons)
Men of the Battle of Britain / Wynn (pilot biographies)
Luftwaffe Encore / Wakefield (study of two attacks in Sept 1940)
Fighter / Deighton (good general history)
The Battle of Britain / Hough & Richards (well researched history of the Battle)
Eagle Day / Collier (good readable narrative of the Battle)
Brothers in Arms / Goss (parallel histories of 609 Squadron & 1/JG 53 during the Battle)
Battle over Sussex / Burgess & Saunders
Finest Hour / Clayton & Craig
Battle of Britain Day / Price
Spitfire Summer / Brown

Pictorials/Histories from German side:
Zerstorer Gruppe / Eimannsberger (V./(Z)LG 1 - I./NJG 3 1939-1941)
The Sting of the Luftwaffe / Vasco (SKG 210; includes the BoB period)
Zerstorer - The Messerschmitt 110 and its Units in 1940 / Vasco & Cornwell
Bombsights over England / Vasco (Erp. Gruppe 210)
The Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain / van Ishoven
The Luftwaffe Fighters' Battle of Britain / Goss
The Luftwaffe Bombers' Battle of Britain / Goss
Portions of various recently published unit histories (JG 2, JG 3, JG 26, JG 53, Zerstorers, Volume 2/Sections 1-4 of Jagwaffe series )

This is by no means exhaustive and obviously only includes books published in English, but it's what I've accumulated through the years. Hope this helps you.

[Martin Bull]

Fsbofk's list is excellent and contains many fine titles - from the German POV, the van Ishoven and Goss titles are especially good.

A couple of lesser-known German pilots' memoirs which include the Battle are :-

Spitfire On My Tail / Ulrich Steinhilper & Peter Osborne ( Independent Books, 1989 ) - Steinhilper flew with JG.52

The Diving Eagle / Peter Stahl ( Wm. Kimber, 1984 ) - Stahl flew Ju88s with KG.30.

[Jim Oxley]

Thanks fsbofk. That's an excellent pictorial list. That indeed gives me something to work on.

And thanks Martin for the recommendation of the Goss and van Ishoven titles.