Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 On 9 April 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway. The Luftwaffe squadrons stationed in Denmark were ordered to cover the troop movements planned for the invasion of Norway. The British tried to disrupt this action by constant day-and-night air attacks. #2 The pilots of Falk’s wing began intensive training in blind flying. They were half-hearted at first, but they eventually became devoted to the practice. On 20 and 22 July, a British bomber squadron flew over the Ruhr, and the flak alone shot down an occasional enemy bomber. #3 In 1940, the German government decided to develop night fighting on a large scale. On 10 May 1941, we night-fighting candidates arrived at Stuttgart-Echterdingen. A magnificent May night lay over Swabia. The airfield was brilliantly illuminated and red lamps indicated all the obstacles. #4 The night-flying course I went on was with the First Wing of Night-Fighter Group No. 1 in Venlo. The veterans of the group told me about the difficulties of night fighting, and how the RAF was taking reprisals on the Ruhr for the so-called Coventrating attacks by the Luftwaffe.

"The enemy bomber grew larger in my sights and the rear gunner was sprayed by my guns just as he opened fire. The rest was merely a matter of seconds. The bomber fell like a stone out of the sky and exploded on the ground. The nightmare came to an end."In this enthralling memoir, the author recounts his experiences of the war years and traces the story of the ace fighter pilots from the German development of radar to the Battle of Britain.Johnen flew his first operational mission in July 1941, having completed his blind-flying training. In his first couple of years he brought down two enemy planes. The tally went up rapidly once the air war was escalated in spring 1943, when Air Marshal Arthur Harris of the RAF Bomber Command began the campaign dubbed the Battle of the Ruhr.During this phase of the war Johnens successes were achieved against a 710-strong force of bombers. Johnens further successes during Harriss subsequent Berlin offensive led to his promotion as Staffelkapitan (squadron leader) of Nachtjagdgeschwader and a move to Mainz. During a sortie from there, his Bf 110 was hit by return fire and he was forced to land in Switzerland. He and his crew were interned by the authorities. The Germans were deeply worried about leaving a sophisticatedly equipped night fighter and its important air crew in the hands of a foreign government, even if it was a neutral one. After negotiations involving Gring, the prisoners were released.Johnens unit moved to Hungary and by October 1944 his score was standing at 33 aerial kills. His final one came in March the following year, once Johnen had moved back to Germany.

The author, an aviation historian, imagines an alternative reality in which the Luftwaffe defeated the Allies.

'A brilliant insight into life in the air and on the ground' Observer In February 1945, British and American bombers rained down thousands of tons of incendiaries on the city of Dresden, killing an estimated 25,000 people and destroying one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The controversy that erupted shortly afterwards, and which continues to this day, has long overshadowed the other events of the bomber war, and blighted the memory of the young men who gave their lives to fight in the skies over Germany. Journey's End neither condemns nor condones the bombing of Dresden, but puts it in its proper context as part of a much larger campaign. To the young men who flew over Germany night after night there were other much more pressing worries: the V2 rockets that threatened their loved ones at home; the brand new German jet fighters that could strike them at speeds of over 600mph. They lived life at a heightened tempo during these final unforgiving months of the bomber war when no quarter was given on either side. As the climactic volume in Kevin Wilson's acclaimed bomber war trilogy, Journey's End chronicles the brutal endgame of a conflict that caused such devastation and tragedy on both sides.