VOICES FROM THE LUFTWAFFE
By Bob Carruthers
Published by Pen & Sword Aviation
ISBN: 978 1 78159 111 6
Review by Mark Barnes for War History Online
Here’s one of a series of softbacks called Luftwaffe in Combat 1939-45 from our pals at Pen & Sword. Originally available in digital format, it’s a good value cheapy offering straightforward text with some pretty good accounts of life in Goering’s air force. My favourites are the no nonsense unapologetic stuff from Hajo Hermann, especially his time during the Spanish Civil War serving with the Condor Legion. The illustrations are taken from Der Adler, the Luftwaffe’s propaganda ‘house magazine’ for want of a better description and some of them seem a little oddly placed at times, but none of them lack interest… I am never sure if charm is the correct word to use. As I’ve said in a separate review, the quality of German photography is never to be questioned – even this posed stuff.
Hey, look – this book retails for under a tenner, the author is an Emmy winning documentary maker who knows his stuff and there is nothing demanding here. When I was a lad I would have loved these books. As far as I can see they make fantastic Christmas stocking fillers and the first hand accounts are all pretty good. There is nothing to dislike – they are good entry level history books on one plain and perfectly decent resource fillers on another. Nuff said.