The German Air Force, 1933-1945: An Anatomy of Failure

v, 406 pp. Includes black-and-white photographs. The German Air Force was a failure. This is the cardinal fact about Hitler's Luftwaffe and one of the most important of the Second World War. Yet it is also one of the most neglected. In this, the first detailed, comprehensive history of the Luftwaffe since 1946, Matthew Cooper describes the disintegration of its high command and the disastrous leadership of Goering. He analyses the development of the Luftwaffe's strategy, and with it its aircraft, and its decision regarding dive bombing, heavy bombers and jet fighters. He describes the Luftwaffe's' campaigns and shows clearly how from the moment it was committed to battle in 1939 it was doomed to failure in any prolonged world war. With hindsight it is possible to see that its one chance of avoiding defeat lay in destroying the RAF in the summer of 1940, and this book carefully analyses just why, when it was within an ace of success, the Luftwaffe gave victory to its enemies.