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by Robert Forsyth.
Hardback (6.3×9.5 inches). 496 pages. 2025.
Subtitle: The Luftwaffe’s War Against America’s Bombers
Forsyth spins more golden prose about the Luftwaffe with a look into the aerial efforts to stop US, and to an extent British, four-engine bombers from pulverizing German industry and infrastructure.
Starting in 1939 and going through 1945, German fighter pilots tried to stem the ever-increasing bombers and suffered ever-increasing losses. Further, German engineers created weaponry and aircraft to help down more bombers. Yet with every passing year, the Germans became more and more desperate as “experten” pilots fell and production dropped.
Some devices were effective — rocket packs and 30mm cannons for example. Others, not so much — four hinged containers held 34 regular stick grenades that were released as the ME-109 flew over the bombers (p81). Meanwhile, a variety of tactics were tried depending on the weaponry.
The prose explains tactics of attack and the strategy of the German defensive system. Plenty of first-person pilot accounts explain what it was like to attack B-17s and B-24s. In some ways, the prose repeats itself, but then again, it conveys the daily aerial battles of single- and two-engine Luftwaffe fighters, and later jets, against fighter escorts and four-engine bomber formations.
The book contains 41 black and white photos and two black and white maps.
Forsyth does a fantastic job showcasing the growing Allied material advantages and the growing desperation of the hard-pressed Luftwaffe.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
