The full story of the air forces allied to Germany during the Second World War and the foreign flying personnel of the Luftwaffe has had to wait until now, and not without reason. Only after the fall of the 'Iron Curtain' could the historians of Eastern Europe explore this subject without ideological barriers, and the survivors of the conflict in former communist countries, such as Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia, talk freely about their past.
During the Second World War, the Italian, Romanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovak, Finnish and Vichy-French air forces played a much greater role than has hitherto been acknowledged by historians. In fact, for a time, no less than one quarter of the aircraft operational on the Eastern Front were flown by aircrews of countries allied to Germany, or foreign pilots in the service of the Luftwaffe.
Initially, these foreign forces were viewed sceptically in Berlin. This attitude was to change during the war when, to replace the mounting losses of men and materiel, the Luftwaffe had to rely increasingly on the small air forces of its allies. Germany, at first hesitant when it came to supplying aircraft to foreign air forces, was soon induced to supply the most modern equipment so that their allies would
by Hans Werner Neulen
Published by Crowood 2000 1st edition. 383pp illustrated, index, appendix, bibliography. 15x22 mint, including d/j.
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