NEW BOOK - LUFTWAFFE & THE WAR AT SEA

[DavidIsby]

Readers of this board may be interested in the following new book. I have appended an annotated copy of the table of contents to show the original source of each chapter.


The Luftwaffe and the War at Sea 1939-45

As Seen By Officers of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe

by Grossadmiral Karl Doenitz, Kontreadmiral Gerhard Wagner, General der Flieger Ulrich O. E. Kessler, Vizeadmiral Eberhard Weichold, Oberst i.G. Walter Gaul, Kapitan zur See Hans-Jurgen Reinecke, Korvetten Kapitan Otto Mejer, Kapitanleutnant Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen

Edited by David C. Isby

The Luftwaffe and the War at Sea 1939-45 looks at the struggle for control of the sea in the European theater from the point of view of the German offices – Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe – that fought it. The contributing authors were involved in all aspects of German attempts to control the seas, from the use of Ju-87 Stuka dive-bombers in the invasion of Norway to the missions of FW-200 Kondors in cooperation with the U-boat campaign against Britain’s Atlantic liefelines.

These reports were either written as secret reports during the war for the benefit of the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe – the Air Force General Staff – or were written immediately after the war when most of the authors were prisoners of war or working for the US military. While they lacked the full story of the Allied efforts against them, these reports had the immediacy of either being prepared in wartime or soon afterwards. Such accounts, while by no means the last word, are valuable and should have a broader availability than just being in the archives

The book also benefits from having been written specifically for an audience well-versed in naval and aviation affairs. The detail contained in the reports is unique and allows the reader a fresh perspective on these famous campaigns.

• The air-sea war in Europe from the view of the German Air Force and Navy.
• Detailed insight into the divisions and tensions within the German command system.
• Includes the writing of such notables as Admiral Doenitz,

David Isby is the editor of Fighting the Bombers, The Luftwaffe Fighter Force, Fighting the Invasion and Fighting the Breakout .



This book is being published by Chatham in the UK and Stackpole in the US. It is currently available on both US and UK Amazon.com web sites.



Author

title

Source of original



Introduction



I.

Overview and Prewar Development



US Office of Naval Intelligence

Chapter 1. German Naval Air 1933-45

National Defense University library (UG635 G3.U53 1947

Oberst i.G. Walter Gaul

Chapter 2. The German Naval Air Force 1933-September 1939

German Naval Archive, Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. Box T66

II.

The Air War at Sea – Navy and Luftwaffe Views



Vizeadmiral Eberhard Weichold

Chapter 3. A Survey From the Naval Point of View on the Organization of the German Air Force for Operations over the Sea

German Naval Archive, Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. Box T75

8th Abteilung, OKL

Chapter 4. The Operational Use of the Luftwaffe in the War at Sea 1939-43

RG 457 (National Security Agency), Box 743, US National Archives.

Naval Historical Team

Chapter 5. German Army and Air Force Influence on the German Navy During World War II

excerpt from German Army and Air Force Influence on the German Navy, RG 38.4, Office of Naval Intelligence Monograph Files, US National Archives

III.

1939-40



Oberst i.G. Walter Gaul

Chapter 6. German Naval Air Operations in the First Six Months of the War

German Naval Archive, Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. Box T66

General der Flieger Ulrich O. E. Kessler

Chapter 7. The Role of the Luftwaffe and the Campaign in Norway

report B-485 Foreign Military Studies US National Archives, RG 338

Oberst i.G. Walter Gaul

Chapter 8. German Naval Air Operations April-December 1940

German Naval Archive, Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. Box T66

IV.

The Battle of the Atlantic 1941-45



Korvetten Kapitan Otto Mejer

Chapter 9. Cooperation of Luftwaffe and U-Boats in Attacks on Convoys

German Naval Archive, Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. Box T69.

Kapitan zur See Hans-Jurgen Reinecke

Chapter 10. Cooperation of the Luftwaffe with the German Navy

German Naval Archive, Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. Box T69.

Kapitanleutnant Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen and others

Chapter 11: Examples of Luftwaffe Cooperation with U-boats from Wartime Reports

RG 38.4 Office of Naval Intelligence Monograph Files, US National Archives, Box 33 Air-Naval Cooperation Files 1002-220.

Headquarters Staff, Fliegerfuhrer Atlantik

Chapter 12. Principles Covering the Conduct of Operation by Fliegerfuhrer Atlantik and an Appreciation of the Types of Aircraft Available

RG 457 (National Security Agency), Box 174, US National Archives.

8th Abteilung, OKL

Chapter 13. The Role of the German Air Force in the Battle of the Atlantic

RG 457 (National Security Agency), Box 62, US National Archives.

V.

Conclusion



Grossadmiral Karl Doenitz and Kontreadmiral Gerhard Wagner

Chapter 14: Overview: The Atlantic War (and the Role of Air Cooperation)

various

[Erich]

David can you share if Ju 290A equipped FAGr 5 is covered in the book ?

many thanks

Erich ~

[DavidIsby]

The wartime German report from OKL Abtl. 8 discusses the types of aircraft available in the 1944 timeframe.

[Rabe Anton]

I would like to suggest that all those contemplating a purchase of Isby's most recent book consult the following review before shelling out their hard-earned money. The newest work has all the color of the author's previous Fighting the Bombers, which exhibited serious deficiencies. It appears likely that these blunders and shortcomings are repeated in this new volume, which seems not to be a synthesis at all but a collection of wartime document translations, interviews, interrogations, and the like.

Kitchens, James H. III - "Fighting the Bombers: The Luftwaffe's Struggle against the Allied Bomber Offensive (review)." The Journal of Military History - Volume 67, Number 4, October 2003, pp. 1330-1331.


RA

[DavidIsby]

What bothered Kitchens was the lack of specific sourcing for the documents. I made a point of including it in this book and here above. I noticed it had never bothered people using Garland Press editions. So, in response to his point, not only did I include it in this book, I put in on the Amazon.com treatments of the earlier books. Neither the publisher nor I thought we were being remiss.

My goal was never to do synthesis. I was not paid for #$%ing synthesis! Nor was it my objective. People want to hear from those who were involved at the time as well as those who have the benefit of 60 years work. It was to select and present a group of documents in their historical context, raise warning flags where approrpriate, and provide an annotated bibliography and description of the authors.

You get all of this for less than a xerox copy of the original documents, plus pretty pictures and maps.

[SES]

Hi all,

I bought "Fighting the Bombers" with great expectations. And how should I put it - it was a surprise. It is a collection of interrogation reports of Luftwaffe personnel ranging from supreme commanders to nightfighter pilots.

It is thus an account of their recollections from their point of vantage. And some of them did in the nature of things not have the full picture. The Need-to-Know principle applied also in the Wehrmacht. So albeit the interrogated personnel might have been cooperative, there are countless mistakes in their accounts, far too lengthy to quote here. But it is very interesting to see how little some generals knew or understood about their own organization, that assuming that they gave correct and honest answers.

The interrogations seem to have been conducted in German by interrogators, who did not have a good understanding of many of the subjects they asked questions about. Bluntly put: They asked stupid questions and got silly answers.

Subsequently the reports were translated to English by translators, who did not have a good grasp of operational notions or German military terminology.

If you have a good understanding of the subject and can transliterate to German as you read, there is much valuable information in the book, but also there are serious, incorrect accounts.

These interrogation reports CANNOT be used as prime sources, but sadly they have been by authors, who jumped the gun and in good faith believed these reports.

Kind regards

SES

www.gyges.dk

[Tony Williams]

Originally Posted by SES

These interrogation reports CANNOT be used as prime sources, but sadly they have been by authors, who jumped the gun and in good faith believed these reports.

You make an interesting point here, which I have also noticed in compiling information for my own books. It is traditional to regard 'primary sources' - first-hand accounts from people involved at the time - as the best and most valuable evidence. However, I have frequently discovered this to be untrue. As you say, witnesses might not have known the 'whole picture', or have misunderstood it. Even direct eye-witness evidence sometimes turns out to be wrong, particularly in wartime when information is more restricted and difficult to check.

Such first-hand accounts are fascinating (because they reveal what the people involved thought was the case, even if it wasn't) but always need cross-checking with other sources.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

[SES]

Hi Tony,

Thank you for your responce and I wholeheartedly agree, facinating accounts, valuable as background, and the lack of knowledge is interesting in itself. With the above caveats I find the books are good value for money.
bregds
SES

[Rabe Anton]

SES and Tony Williams have, perhaps unwittingly, put their finger on yet another major deficit in David Isby's Luftwaffe-related publications. Isby is quite right that certain primary documents have value in the market-place and that some consumers are interested in such materials. What he seems to think, however, is that primary documents speak for themselves. They do not. A worthwhile documents compilation, or "book of readings" as academics call them, is a miserable failure without commentary that puts the documents and their authors in their historical setting. This means at least several biographical paragraphs on the author(s), explicating his/their views, life experiences, careers, concerns, purposes in writing, and so forth. Even their religious upbringing and psychological state could conceivably bear on their outlook and thus their writing, official and military though it be. It also means that each document should be accompanied by an extended, carefully researched statement of its origins, why it was produced, what its objectives were, what its strengths and shortcomings are, possible prejudices and blinders, and so forth. In other words, each document must be set against the historical tapestry that produced it.

Extended annotations about document authors and about individual items in a published collection should be presented just before the writing on which they bear, not off at the front or rear of the book as they are in Fighting the Bombers. Annotations—individual footnotes explaining terms or pointing out special points—rightly belong after each document.

The hard, nasty, gritty truth is this: document compilations are among the most difficult and sophisticated of historical writings. Successful compilations require at least as much research and loving care as do synthetic monographs. If Isby had obtained a graduate (preferably doctoral) level education in history and, better yet, if he had lived and worked for extended periods in the academic milieu of the discipline, he would have immediately grasped the characteristics required to produce a meaningful assembly of primary materials. The documents, Mr. Isby, do NOT speak for themselves . . . and, as SES and Tony Williams have perceived, the reader both needs and deserves to be fully informed about the complexion and content of each writing included in his manuscript.

RA

[Ruy Horta]

Yet, this book can provide an easy means to get these original documents, with or without annotations.

Plenty of monographs which would at least deserve a similar treatment, which is better than remaining obscure or within the domain of those willing and able to visit archives etc.

Although I understand some of the criticism, I certainly believe there is room on my bookshelf for this kind of work.