Over the years much has been written about Luftwaffe aces, but this book seeks to examine the lives of the ordinary men who took to the skies. These men all shared the same “aggressive spirit, joy of action and the passion of a hunter.” Rich with fascinating first-hand accounts exploring every step of the fighter pilot's career from his enlistment and intensive training to his exploits in the Battle of Britain and on the Eastern Front, this book is an invaluable insight into the life of a Luftwaffe fighter pilot.

A history of Nazi Germany’s air force along with details of some of its most successful pilots. World War II’s air battles were fought ferociously and with extraordinary skill and courage on both fronts. The fighter pilots of Luftwaffe, the jagdflieger, in fact outscored their Allied counterparts by some margin and were some of the highest scoring fighter pilots of all time. More than a hundred recorded a century of aerial successes with two going on to surpass an astonishing 300 victories. In the end, the vast effort required by the Luftwaffe to maintain the air war on so many fronts proved too much. Few jagdflieger survived the last days of the Reich. But their ability was beyond question, and the names of some will live on in the annals of air warfare with their extraordinary achievements never to be surpassed. In Aces of the Luftwaffe, Peter Jacobs examines the many campaigns fought by the Luftwaffe, from its fledgling days during the Spanish Civil War to its last days defending the Reich, and recounts the exploits of Erich Hartmann, the highest scoring fighter pilot of all time; Hans-Joachim Marseille, the Star of Africa; Werner Mölders, the first recipient of the Diamonds; and Adolf Galland, perhaps the most famous of all.

Over the years much has been written about Luftwaffe aces, but this book seeks to examine the lives of the ordinary men who took to the skies. These men all shared the same “aggressive spirit, joy of action and the passion of a hunter.” Rich with fascinating first-hand accounts exploring every step of the fighter pilot's career from his enlistment and intensive training to his exploits in the Battle of Britain and on the Eastern Front, this book is an invaluable insight into the life of a Luftwaffe fighter pilot.

In this exciting book Mike Spick shows how the Luftwaffe's leading fighter pilots were able to outscore their allied counterparts so effectively and completely during the Second World War. When the records of the Jagdflieger pilots became available after the war, they were initially greeted with incredulity _ the highest claim was for 352 kills, and more than 100 pilots had recorded more than 100 victories. However postwar research proved that these claims had in fact been made in good faith and confirmation had only been given after rigorous checking. To discover the secret of this success, aviation history expert Mike Spick examines the exploits of these aces and sets out the context in which it took place. Every major theater is covered in detail including the conditions peculiar to each: climate, relative numerical and qualitative strengths, the presence or absence of radar and other measures, and the relative merits of the planes being flown. He focuses on the methods and tactics used by individual aces and uses firsthand sources wherever possible to put the reader right alongside the pilot in the cockpit.

Over the years much has been written about Luftwaffe aces, but this book seeks to examine the lives of the ordinary men who took to the skies. These men all shared the same “aggressive spirit, joy of action and the passion of a hunter.” Rich with fascinating first-hand accounts exploring every step of the fighter pilot's career from his enlistment and intensive training to his exploits in the Battle of Britain and on the Eastern Front, this book is an invaluable insight into the life of a Luftwaffe fighter pilot.

Totally outnumbered throughout their short two-year sojourn in the Western Desert, the crack fighter pilots of the handful of Jagdgeschwader in-theatre fought an effective campaign in support of Rommel's Afrika Korps against the British and American forces. Relying almost exclusively on the Luftwaffe's staple fighter of World War 2, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the battle-hardened aces used the aircraft's superior performance to achieve incredible scores against the Allies. Similarly, once pushed out of North Africa, these units continued to take the fight to the RAF and USAAF from makeshift bases in northern Italy.

As well as the open propaganda of the British Government produced during the Second World War, like the foreign language radio broadcasts of the BBC and the aerial propaganda leaflets dropped by the RAF over Occupied Europe, a secret underground propaganda battle was also fought. ‘The Black Art’ documents this history of Britain’s clandestine psychological warfare conducted against the Nazi’s Third Reich. This black propaganda was the work of several secret intelligence organisations including the Political Warfare Executive and Special Operations Executive. Using previously undiscovered primary source material ‘The Black Art’ charts the progress of and catalogues the range of propaganda leaflets covertly distributed across Occupied Europe and beyond to subvert the morale of German soldiers and civilians. The propaganda included such ruses as malingering instructions to fake the symptoms of illness, tips for desertion to neutral countries, parody postage stamps, advice on sabotaging a U-boat, counterfeit ration coupons, identity documents and newspapers plus numerous other falsely attributed leaflets and stickers. Over 350 illustrations are included.

Translated literally as "War Speak," Kriegsprache is a glossary of WWII German military and period specific words, phrases, abbreviations, and Landser slang. Over 7,000 abbreviations and more than 17,500 words and phrases have been collected to aid the student, historian, and researcher in translating and understanding German documents, letters, and reports from WWII.

“Fascinating . . . you’ll gain tremendous insight into some of the best fighter pilots the world has ever known, as well as the Luftwaffe’s rise and fall.” —The Military Book Club In 1939, the Luftwaffe was arguably the world’s best-equipped and best-trained air force. Its fighters were second to none, and their pilots had a tactical system superior to any other in the world. In campaigns over Poland, Norway, the Low Countries and France, they carried all before them. Only in the summer of 1940 did they fail by a narrow margin in achieving air superiority over England. In the West, with a mere holding force, they maintained an enviable kill-loss ratio against the RAF, while elsewhere they swept through the Balkans, then decimated the numerically formidable Soviet Air Force. Their top scorers set marks in air combat that have never been surpassed. Yet within three years—despite the introduction of the jet Me 262, the world’s most advanced fighter—the Luftwaffe fighter arm had been totally defeated. How did this happen? Air-warfare historian Mike Spick explores this question in depth in this incisive and compelling study of World War II’s most fearsome air force. “Spick’s work explores one of the interesting questions of World War II: why did the Jagdwaffe, the most efficient, best-trained and most technically advanced air force in the world in 1939 endure a bewildering defeat within three short years. Spick comes up with some interesting theories to do with the influence of the cult of Manfred Von Richtofen (the Red Baron).” —In Flight USA

This book offers the reader thrilling, action-packed snapshots of life as a Luftwaffe nightfighter pilot. 'Suddenly, flash bombs to my right, I instantly dive low to avoid being a direct target. We stay down, close above ground … before too long life returns in the area and we spot men milling around; Richard and Pitt let them have it, but good. We’re down to our last bit of ammunition. Some Russians have frozen in fear, others lift their arm, others still lie flat on the ground. Not a single one remembers to get up and fire.' On 21 June 1941, assigned to Luftwaffe bomber wing Kampfgeschwader 53, the 23-year-old Arnold Döring took off to fly his first mission against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front. From that day, he kept a diary describing his operations in vivid detail. These diaries, here translated into English for the first time, give a unique perspective on the action on the Eastern Front, from the point of view of a bomber pilot. Döring’s accounts not only give technical aspects but are also filled with suspense and excitement with their close descriptions of bombing raids and narrow escapes from enemy fighter planes. This unembellished account gives an honest and meticulous record that moves rapidly from one area to another, from one operation to the next. With a detached professionalism, Döring offers us thrilling, action-packed snapshots of life as a Luftwaffe nightfighter. Döring flew a total of 392 aerial attacks and was awarded the Knight’s Cross in April 1945.