In the Works

Nachtjagd Over The Eastern Front

For some time now, Sven Carlsen, Morten Jessen and Adam Thompson have been working together to write an expansive account of Luftwaffe night fighter operations over the Eastern Front. Based on an extensive collection of German primary sources, including logbooks of more than 50 Luftwaffe airmen, personal diaries, and an equally impressive amount of Soviet primary sources, the authors are currently finalising the text of the book. All of this will be supported by many never-before-published photographs, and will be finished to the usual high-quality standards of any Air War Publications product. The aim of the narrative is to provide the reader with a detailed understanding of the efforts and actions of the German night fighters on the Eastern Front, as well as outlining the many challenges they faced, including, but not limited to, a lack of night fighter training for many of the pilots and air crew initially engaged in such operations. Including first-hand accounts from both sides of the air war, plus careful analysis of tactics, deployments, and equipment, Sven, Morten and Adam weave the story into the overall picture of the war along the lengthy Eastern Front between 1941 and 1945.

The nocturnal air war in the East was a somewhat ad hoc affair from the German perspective, with only a handful of units, aircraft and crews ever committed. The majority of activity took place over the central sector of the Eastern Front, and in particular when large land operations were in progress. Among the themes of the book are radar trains, fighting Soviet supply flights to their partisans behind the German lines, and ad hoc and alternative ways for the Luftwaffe to try and combat nocturnal Soviet air activities across the entire Eastern Front.

Air War Courland

Our book about the air war over Courland will be a comprehensive history of Luftwaffe and Soviet air operations over Courland in Latvia from late-July 1944 to 8 May 1945. After fierce initial battles in the region in the late-summer and early autumn of 1944, from October of that year to the end of the war an encircled German army, isolated from the rest of the Eastern Front, held out against six Soviet offensives. In the skies above the battlefield the two air forces clashed as regularly as the harsh winter weather allowed. A small number of German fighter pilots from the famous Green Heart unit, Jagdgeschwader 54, found themselves up against skilled and experienced Soviet opponents. There were regular and damaging Soviet bombing raids on vital German harbours and airfields, and both sides flew numerous ground-attack and reconnaissance sorties in support of their ground forces. The maritime air war over the Baltic Sea off Courland also features heavily in the story, because naval supply was the lifeline for the Germans. The aerial action over Courland continued until the very end of the Second World War, and the book will include a detailed description of the desperate Luftwaffe evacuation from the Courland pocket on 8 May 1945.

This book will cover the air fighting in detail, using German and Soviet archival material, interviews with airmen from both sides, and a range of other primary and secondary sources. As with all books from Air War Publications, the text will be accompanied by numerous photographs and illustrations, along with more than twenty colour profiles by Australian artist Juanita Franzi.

RAAF No. 450 Squadron History – Volumes I & II

For several years we have been supporting the work of Australian historian Doug Norrie on the Royal Australian Air Force’s No. 450 Squadron, but it was not until recently that he asked us if we would consider publishing his book. We were honoured that he would choose us to release the results of his many decades of research. The book will be broken into two volumes, and the first covers the period from the unit’s formation in February 1941 to the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.

No. 450 Squadron RAAF was based in North Africa and the Mediterranean Theatre for its entire service, initially serving in the Syrian campaign with No. 260 Squadron RAF. It later formed as a fighter squadron, evolving into a specialist fighter-bomber unit, operating the P-40 Kittyhawk. It was training on the P-51 Mustang as the war ended.

Rarely has a single unit been researched so thoroughly – Doug has amassed thousands of photographs, and far too many first-hand accounts to fit into the two volumes. It is a rare luxury that we have to cut out first-hand accounts and photographs because there are more than enough. In addition, Doug is an excellent storyteller, with the ability to make the experiences of the pilots, officers and ground personnel come to life, making his book a pleasure to read. Apart from the main story, the book will feature lengthy appendices with aircraft and personnel losses, aerial victories, and other detailed information. To illustrate some of the No. 450 Squadron RAAF aircraft, Air War Publications has been fortunate to enrol the assistance of highly talented Dutch illustrator, Ronnie Olsthoorn. Examples of his excellent artwork can be found at aviationart.aero and Facebook.

Henschel 123

Air War Publications is very excited to announce that Morten Jessen is working on his long-anticipated book about the Henschel 123 biplane. Despite being obsolete prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, it found its place as a precision ground-attack aircraft and was loved by its pilots. The Hs 123 was first used in operations during the Spanish Civil War, soon after the first aircraft had rolled out from the factory. It proved its worth and many foreign air forces became interested. The aircraft was also in the frontline when Poland and France were invaded in 1939 and 1940, and it provided valuable support for the German army in its campaign against the Soviet Union. It continued its operational career into the final months of the war, until there were no machines left to fly.

This book will cover the life of the Henschel 123 from the initial request for a ground-attack aircraft by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, its development and construction, and its service in the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, where it was used until 1945 on the Eastern Front. Using factory documents, numerous pilot interviews, and plenty of unpublished photos, this title will tell the full story of the Hs 123.

Focke-Wulf 190 Fighting Over Southern Italy

The sequel to ‘Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in the Battle for Sicily’ will tell the story of the Fw 190 fighter-bomber units in the Mediterranean theatre from 3 September 1943 to 21 January 1944. It will focus on their attempts to disrupt the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland, and the subsequent Anglo-American advance northwards. The Fw 190 pilots flew many missions over the strongly defended Salerno invasion beaches, in support of the German army’s attempts to push the Allied landing force back into the sea. They were also involved in the short but fascinating campaigns on Sardinia and Corsica in September and early October 1943. The Fw 190 units then continued to support the German ground forces as they gradually withdrew northwards up the Italian boot towards Rome in the autumn, and the pilots flew as often as they could in the winter of 1943/1944, despite deteriorating weather. Throughout this period, the Fw 190-equipped Schlachtgeschwader 4 was the main Luftwaffe army support unit in southern Italy, and it attacked tanks, vehicles, bridges, and occasionally shipping targets and airfields, causing disruption and inflicting losses.

The book will cover Fw 190 operations in a day-by-day format, interspersed with many first-hand accounts, maps, colour aircraft profiles, photographs, and illustrations.

On All Fronts – IV./Kampfgeschwader zur besonderen Verwendung 1

One aspect of the Luftwaffe that has been relatively overlooked since the end of the Second World War is the history of its various transport units. Although limited histories of various units exist online and in print, no exhaustive history for any particular Gruppe or Geschwader has ever been undertaken. That is why Adam Thompson is currently researching and writing the story of one of the very interesting transport units – the IV. Gruppe of Kampfgeschwader zur besonderen Verwendung 1.

Relying on a variety of primary sources, including memoirs, Flugbuch copies, Allied Intelligence files, personal diaries, and the IV./KGzbV 1 war diary, along with post-war studies and photographs, Adam is able to piece together the wartime involvement of the Gruppe in what is his latest book project.

Tracing its origins to the formation of a Junkers 52 unit designed to train and support Fallschirmjäger operations in 1938, Adam lays out the operations and challenges faced by the Gruppe, from its first inception in the final days of peace in 1939, through to its final operations in mid-1943, before being reorganized as a Transportgruppe. Operating in Poland, the Gruppe was dissolved in late 1939, although never entirely struck off the Luftwaffe’s order of battle, only to be reactivated in early 1940. After briefly participating in Unternehmen Weserübung, the invasion of Norway, the Gruppe was also in action during the opening day of the invasion of France and the Low Countries, where it suffered such heavy losses that its final operation slated for 10 May 1940, had to be cancelled.

With the successful conclusion of the French Campaign, the Gruppe turned its attention towards supplying the recently occupied Channel Islands, which the Luftwaffe used as forward operating bases for its assault on England during the summer of 1940. From there, the Gruppe moved south-east to support the campaign in the Balkans and Greece, before turning its attention to the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Serving under trying conditions, at the dawn of a redeployment back to Germany, the Gruppe was sent back to the Soviet Union and put to work supplying the encircled troops in the Demyansk Kessel during the spring of 1942. With the situation stabilized by late spring, the Gruppe was then transferred to the latest German crisis in the Mediterranean Theatre, where the Deutsches Afrikakorps was encountering stiffening Allied resistance. Involved in the aerial bridgehead supplying North Africa, and later Tunisia, the Gruppe would be rebranded as a fully-fledged Transportgruppe in May 1943, but only after enduring a bloody mauling at the hands of Allied fighters during Operation Flax.

Forthcoming eArticles

’24 April 1945: Death Throes of the Luftwaffe – Part I’ by Andrew Arthy
‘The Life of Werner Roell – Under the Badge of the Rooster’ by Philippe Saintes
NB – We would welcome any research material that could help improve our books, research or eArticle projects. Please contact us via the ‘Contact‘ menu.