Flak: German Anti-aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945 (Modern War Studies) [ペーパーバック]

Long the neglected stepchild in studies of World War II air campaigns, German flak or anti-aircraft units have been frequently dismissed by American, British, and German historians (and by veterans of the European air war) as ineffective weapons that wasted valuable matriel and personnel resources desperately needed elsewhere by the Third Reich. Westermann emphatically disagrees with that view and makes a convincing case for the significant contributions made by the entire range of German anti-aircraft defenses.

During the Allied air campaigns against the Third Reich, well over a million tons of bombs were dropped upon the German homeland, killing nearly 300,000 civilians, wounding another 780,000, and destroying more than 3,500,000 industrial and residential structures. Not surprisingly, that aerial Armageddon has inspired countless studies of both the victorious Allied bombing offensive and the ultimately doomed Luftwaffe defense of its own skies. By contrast, flak units have virtually been ignored, despite the fact that they employed more than a million men and women, were responsible for more than half of all Allied aircraft losses, forced Allied bombers to fly far above high-accuracy altitudes, and thus allowed Germany to hold out far longer than it might have otherwise.

Westermann's definitive study sheds new light on every facet of the development and organization of this vital defense arm, including its artillery, radar, searchlight, barrage balloon, decoy sites, and command components. Highlighting the convergence of technology, strategy, doctrine, politics, and economics, Flak also provides revealing insights into German strategic thought, Hitler's obsession with micromanaging the war, and the lives of the members of the flak units themselves, including the large number of women, factory workers, and even POWs who participated.

This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
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"There is nothing comparable in analytical depth and breadth to Westermann's account."--Horst Boog, author of Die Deutsche Luftwaffenfhrung, 1935-1945

"An exemplary work that captures the human as well as material aspects of total war and makes a convincing case for the importance of ground-based air defenses against the Combined Bomber Offensive."--Dennis Showalter, author of Tannenberg: Clash of Empires

"Well written and superbly researched, this is a major addition to the literature of air-power history. I give it my highest recommendation."--James Corum, author of The Luftwaffe
--このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。