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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 940
EAN num: 9781857802764
ISBN number: 1857802764
Label: Classic Publications
Manufacturer: Classic Publications
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 144
Printing Date: January 01, 2008
Publishing house: Classic Publications
Sale Popularity Level: 521976
Studio: Classic Publications
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Following the harsh winter of 1941/42, the Germans renewed their offensive operations across the entire Eastern Front once the spring thaw had set in. As in 1941, they made significant advances, particularly on the southern half of the front, penetrating to the River Volga and the city of Stalingrad. The battle for Stalingrad was undoubtedly one of the turning points in the war. Before the German defeat there and at the battle of El Alamein, they had never been beaten. After these defeats, the Germans never again achieved a significant victory. While the land battle for Stalingrad is well known, the air battle fought by the Luftwaffe and the Soviet air force is less well documented but was very important in determining the ultimate fate of the city and the opposing combatants.
This book covers the significant air battles which took place over Stalingrad between August and November 1942 and the subsequent airlift operation in the winter of 1942/43 intended to relieve the German Sixth Army, which was by then trapped in Stalingrad. It also covers the air war during the Russian counter-offensive in early 1943 where the Luftwaffe played a major role in saving the whole German Eastern Front (and thus the whole German war effort) from collapsing. This is an aspect of the war in the East that has previously not been covered in such depth. The strength of the author's writing lies in its detail and his ability to tell the story from the viewpoint of both sides.
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Rated by buyers 
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Christer Bergstrom's previous air war titles such as BLACK CROSS - RED STAR have been notable for their impeccable research, illustrative material, balanced treatment and sometimes awkwardly worded texts. Happily, Bergstrom's STALINGRAD volume, published in 2007 by Midland Publishing, displays all those aforementioned strengths with nary a convoluted participle in sight!
Drawing upon a wealth of German and Russian archival material and personal accounts, Bergstrom chronicles the momentous developments on the Eastern Front from early 1942 to January 1943, events that resulted in the destruction of the 6th Army at Stalingrad. Luftwaffe and Red Air Force units were key players in the sometimes titanic land battles waged during this time. Equipped with superior aircraft flown by combat-experienced crews using proven tactics, German fighter, bomber, ground-attack and recce units overwhelmed the opposition, lending valuable support to the Panzers while decimating their poorly-trained and -led VVS contemporaries operating a smorgasbord of biplane and monoplane designs. While Russian units were being re-equipped with more potent aircraft such as IL-2s, Pe-2s, Yak-1s, LaGG-3s, etc., they often lacked time to develop effective tactics before thrown into battle. Yet despite wholesale slaughter of VVS units, Germany, as Bergstorm relates in the book, couldn't hope to win the war of attrition Stalin was willing to wage. In time Luftwaffe bombers and fighters, their numbers dwindling, became fire-brigades, switched back and forth across fronts to provide needed - if temporary - strength to a threatened location or air support for a new offensive. Germany's transports were likewise called upon for tasks - such as the aerial resupply of Stalingrad - beyond their capabilities. In the end, quantity conquered quality.
STALINGRAD is first-class history. It interweaves strategic concerns with tactical developments and adds individual combat details to provide the reader with a compelling 'big picture/little picture' narrative. The wealth of documentation Bergstrom utilized is truly impressive. Axis and Russian air combat claims, for example, are compared whenever possible to give an accurate account of the air war. What is so surprising, given all the documentation Bergstrom presents in the book, is that STALINGRAD is such an engaging read.
Bergstrom packs a great deal of history into the book's 134 pages of text. Although the primary thrust of the book is the role Axis and Russian fighters, bombers, ground-attack, transport and recce units played in the fighting, Bergstrom includes separate sections on notable Luftwaffe and VVS commanders, the restructuring of the Red Air Force, comparisons between the Stalingrad and Demyansk airlifts, the effect of Lend-Lease aircraft on Soviet air ops, 'Night Witches,' etc.
Over 100 grey and white photographs compliment the text along with a two-page painting diagramming the Stalingrad airlift operation, five colour maps and various tables summarizing order of battle, sorties flown, losses and so on.
Given the tremendous amount of information Bergstrom wields and the able manner in which he presents it, I'd give STALINGRAD six stars if that was possible. His portrait of Eastern Front air ops is fresh, authoritative, informative and compelling. After 60 years we're finally getting a true picture of the Eastern Front air war! This gets my highest recommendation.
Rated by buyers 
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The story of WWII's Eastern Front conflict has been rarely told, in part because of Soviet secrecy regarding its part in the war. Since glasnost, however, information from the Russian side has been forthcoming, but little of the published scholarship involving this history relates the part aircraft played in both sides of the conflict.
Bergstrom's book partially resolves this historical gap. He pays close attention to the strategic influence of the Soviet Air Force as well as to that of the German Luftwaffe. However, the author seems more fascinated with fighter statistics than with those of bombers, once again allowing a bit of a distortion in his view of air strategy and tactics as they evolved during this conflict. Still, Bergstrom's text, along with rare pictures, moves an invaluable step forward in understanding the air aspects of this conflict.
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