Battles With the Luftwaffe, The Bomber Campaign Against Germany 1942-45

Authors: Theo Boiten & Martin Bowman

Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN 0-00-711363-3
Sale Price: $15.00

Reviewed By Ray Mehlberger

I periodically haunt the sales tables at the local Barnes & Nobles Book store. This time I found this new hard-bound book on the sale table there.

The book is 9' x 11.5" format and 236 pages long.

It is a collection of first-hand accounts from WWII veteran air crews, that offer fresh looks at the daily air war that raged over Europe from 1942 to 1945. It retraces not only the course of events of the war years as experienced by both Allied and Axis pilots, but also offers vivid descriptions of weaponry, aircraft and tactical developments during the extensive bombing campaign against Germany.

It is heavily illustrated with some 300 black and white photos, many of which have never been published before. The book is a fascinating account of the realities of air-combat during World War II and well worth the relative few bucks.

I found the short biographies of the pilots interesting (some I had never heard of before) and there is numerous nose arts for Allied aircraft I had not seen before either.

Highly recommended.