The story of the Luftwaffe fighter arm’s desperate defence of the Third Reich from the growing Allied bomber offensive in World War II.
The Reichsverteidigung (Defence of the Reich) was a do or die campaign that saw the very best fighter pilots in the Luftwaffe attempt to defend German skies from increasingly large formations of RAF and USAAF medium and heavy bombers. Flying both piston-engined and, eventually, the first jet-engined fighters to see operational service, the Jagdflieger employed a wide range of weapons and tactics in an effort to blunt the Allied air offensive across Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe.
Defenders of the Reich focusses on the story of the pilot, his aircraft, his weaponry, his draining, dangerous missions and Luftwaffe tactics against the USAAF and the RAF bombers from the summer of 1942 through to VE Day. They fought until they were all but obliterated as USAAF and RAF fighters decimated their ranks in the air and targeted their airfields in devastating strafing attacks.
Leading Luftwaffe historian Robert Forsyth uses German and Allied archival documents coupled with interviews with former Jagdwaffe pilots, to tell the history of this last-ditch aerial campaign from the perspective of the Luftwaffe.
By:
Robert Forsyth
Imprint: Osprey
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 236mm,
Width: 154mm,
Spine: 44mm
Weight: 746g
ISBN: 9781472862860
ISBN 10: 1472862864
Pages: 480
Publication Date: 03 March 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
(provisional only and subject to confirmation) Introduction Acknowledgements Part One Guardians at the Ramparts, August 1942–September 1943 1. A New Enemy 2. Head-On 3. Defence in Depth 4. Savage Summer Part Two Cornered Wolves,October 1943–February 1944 5. Schweinfurt 6. The Battle to Win the Skies 7. Closer and Closer 8. Know Thy Enemy 9. The Specialists Part Three Sturm und Drang, February–June 1944 10.Big Week and ‘Big B’ 11. ‘Imminent Danger West’ 12. All-out Defence 13. The Cauldron 14. Mass against Mass Part Four Dark Skies, July 1944–May 1945 15. Retreat and restoration 16. The winter gambles 17. Stormbirds 18. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures Aftermath and conclusions Appendices Index
Robert Forsyth is an author, editor and publisher, specializing in military aviation and military history. He is the author of over 25 titles for Osprey Publishing, on the aircraft, units and operations of the Luftwaffe, including To Save an Army (2022), an interest he has held since boyhood. He has written articles for The Aviation Historian, Aerojournal, Aeroplane Monthly, Aviation News, Combat Aircraft, and FlyPast and he is a member of the Editorial Board of The Aviation Historian.
Reviews for Defenders of the Reich: The Luftwaffe’s War Against America’s Bombers
Defenders of the Reich is bound to remain a landmark amid the historiography of World War II aviation … A volume expertly balanced between primary and secondary sources, enriched with personal narratives * Barrett Tillman, author of 'When the Shooting Stopped: August 1945' * Robert Forsyth traces the evolution in command and control, aircraft and weaponry, and tactics applied by the Luftwaffe over Germany during the longest, toughest, most decisive daylight aerial campaign of the war. Both opposing air forces’ experiences are included in riveting detail. A tour de force. * Patrick G. Eriksson, author of 'Alarmstart South and Final Defeat' * The definitive work on Luftwaffe attempts to counter Allied daylight bomber raids on Germany. Deftly weaving the strategic narrative with myriad personal accounts of the action both in the air and on the ground. * Lawrence Paterson, author of 'The U-Boat War' *
