PHOENIX TRIUMPHANT: THE RISE & RISE OF THE LUFTWAFFE

ISBN 1854093312

Size = 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" Tall

FROM THE ASHES OF A SHATTERED nation in 1918, the German Air Force rose again. The climax of the campaign in the west in 1940 - when the Luftwaffe was to play a vital role - can now be seen as the zenith of its fortunes and strengths. But the victories won during 1939-40 were as nothing to those won over the previous 20 years, as Germany overcame the restrictions that had been imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.

This book, the product of much new research in military archives in Germany, France and Britain, tells the story of how Germany came to develop the Luftwaffe. Here are the secret years of German aviation up to 1935, when even the German goverment was misled as to the existence of training programmes, while barely any effort was made to meet the Armistice demands. Edward Hooton demonstrates just how well informed Allied intelligence agencies were of Luftwaffe development, but of the failure to use that intelligence correctly; how the Luftwaffe's training organization failed to improve upon the flawed system of World War One; and of the existence of a genuine strategic role for the Luftwaffe and plans to fulfil it.

Other facts that emerge from this study are the extent to which later Luftwaffe strength and quality relied on a few far-sighted individuals in its early days; the contribution of Milch, in organizing the aircraft industry; of Wever, in shaping operational doctrines and concepts until an untimely early death; and of Blomberg, in allowing the Luftwaffe to exist as an autonomous organization.

The story of the Luftwaffe from creation to victorious justification in war is vividly told here for the first time in detail and in one volume. It is a fascinating insight into a unique period of military aviation, as tactics and technology raced each other, set against the background of rearmament and resurgent German militarism in the years before and during the initial campaigns of World War Two.

CONTENTS

Comparative Ranks
Abbreviations

1. A Premature Epitaph: November 1918 to November 1923
2. The Lipetsk Years: January 1924 to December 1929
3. Birth of an Eagle: January 1930 to December 1932
4. The Fledgeling: January 1933 to June 1936
5. The Spanish Trial: July 1936 to March 1939
6. The Steel Facade: June 1936 to September 1939
7. Blitzkrieg/Sitzkrieg: September 1939 to May 1940
8. Eagle Over the Sea: September 1939 to June 1940
9. Sieg im Westen: May to June 1940

Appendix
1: German Air Forces, 11 November 1918
2: Austrian Air Forces, 4 November 1918
3: Expenditure upon Air Forces, 1933-1939
4: Pre-War Production and Plans
5: Aircraft Production, 1933-1939
6: Luftwaffe Expansion, 1935-1938
7: German Aircraft Deliveries to Spain, 1936-1939
8: Osterreichische Luftstreitkrafte, March 1938
9: Luftwaffe Order of Battle, 1 September 1939
10: Luftwaffe Order of Battle in Scandinavia, 9 April & 10 May 1940
11: Luftwaffe Order of Battle in the West, 10 May & 5 June 1940

Bibliography
Glossary
Index

320 pages. Hard cover with UNCLIPPED dust jacket. Ex-Library, very much cleaner & better than usual.

Weight = 800 g

BOOK / DUST JACKET CONDITION = VERY GOOD / VERY GOOD

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FAIR: Obviously well-worn, but no text pages missing. May be without endpapers or title page. Markings do not interfere with readability.

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