Appearance
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943 (Modern War Studies)
The author Joel Hayworth did a fantastic job of researching the ill-fated Luftwaffe attempt to keep the encircled German troops in Stalingrad supplied. The details of the aircraft involved,leadership,weather,and combat conditions are all covered in great detail. The opening phases of the Spring 1942 German operation to conquer the Crimea,the German offensive in the Caucaus Mountains (Summer 1942-Spring 1943) and the fighting in Stalingrad proper are also included. Well worth the time and money a great find and a excellent book.
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943 (Modern War Studies)
This is an excellent book because it focuses on the truly important part of the Stalingrad battle-- the airlift. What is great about this book is that it integrates what is happening on the ground with what happened in the air. I've read many books on Stalingrad, Milch, Richthofen, and the author has done his research (see the German Reports from the USAF Air University). Why did the airlift fail? Probably weather and operational readiness were the main reasons. For example, in the Conclusion of the book, the author notes that with better weather a couple of months later, the German Air Force was able to resupply the German Armies in the Caucausas with the 500 tons/day that Stalingrad never received. The Germans were not prepared to operate well at 0 degF and low visibility conditions. By contrast the USAF was able to operate the Berlin Airlift with 5000 tons/day (about 20 times the German tonnage) because of better aircraft (DC-4), better all weather landing systems, and better operational readiness (and no 0 degF weather).What would have been a good additional chapter would have been a comparison of the Stalingrad airlift with Demyansk airlift, Kuban airlift and Berlin airlift. Also some charts showing the tons carried, total planes, operational planes, plane losses per week would have been informative. Nevertheless, this book is a 5 star.
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943 (Modern War Studies)
As I stated in the title of my review the book covered many air operations from the Crimean battles of 1941-1942 up to Stalingrad. The author did this in a very detailed and accurate study and much more important in conjunction with land operations. I was particulary impressed by the coverage of Stalingrad battle (support of the initial assault, Operation Wintergewitten and the airlift), but also the coverage of the air and sea battles over the Black Sea. Very good photos but I cannot say the same about the maps. A really good book that filled a lot of gaps in the battles around Black Sea.
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943 (Modern War Studies)
This is a very good description of Luftwaffe Operations on the Eastern Front. It has good background information speciffically about the economic side of it. Decisions made based on oil supply's rather than military objectives. Very interesting material.The only bad thing about this book is that the editing comes across as very sloppy. German names are often misspelled or incorrect. It is not Manstein, but von Manstein, not Bock, but von Bock, not Kluge, but von Kluge.Also it is not Count von Sponneck but Graf von Sponneck. If you overlook those issues, it is a very good book
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943 (Modern War Studies)
Very thoroughly researched book. Could have explained infantry operations in a little more detail after all most of the movements of the Luftwaffe happened in direct support of infantry movement. Could have given a little bit more weightage to characteristic traits of leaders involved in action. But all in all a very lucidly written book a definite buy for anyone interested in eastern theater of WWII
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943 (Modern War Studies)
with over 20 stalingrad titles in my collection this book was impossible to put down,one of the best written well researched books i ve read in a very long time.at the price these are selling for it is an absolute steal!if i would have known how much i would enjoy it i would have payed double the going rate and never flinched.probobly the most absorbing aspects of this book is all the myth busting it does.stalingrad is one of those battles to which the "telephone game" syndrome has been deeply rooted a "fact" is used in some of the older less researched books and is re used by many authors without verification.this book disspells many of these,and proves with documentation why they are false.also does an excellent job at explaining how the 6th army wound up in the predicamement it did.lots of info on the crimea campaign and how this directly influenced the stalingrad battle. avery fairly priced book written in an excellent style .simply one of the best researched books i ve read in a long time worth every penny