A detailed, illustrated account of the air campaign that accompanied the Red Army's final push towards Berlin, in which massed Soviet air power defeated the Luftwaffe's high-tech Me 262 jets and Mistel exploding drones.
The last months of World War II on the Eastern Front saw a ferocious fight between two very different air forces. Soviet Air Force (VVS) Commander-in-Chief Alexander Novikov assembled 7,500 aircraft in three powerful air armies to support the final assault on Berlin. The Luftwaffe employed some of its most advanced weapons including the Me 262 jet and Mistel remotely-guided bomb aircraft.
Using photos, 3D diagrams, maps and battlescene artwork, William E. Hiestand, a military analyst with a longstanding interest in Soviet military history, explains how Germany's use of high-tech weaponry and massed Soviet air assaults was not just the culmination of World War II air combat, but also pointed to how the future rivalry with NATO would play out. The VVS used powerful and flexible air armies to control and employ its huge force of aircraft – organizational and employment concepts that would shape Soviet plans and preparations for combat during the Cold War.
For the first time, this volume explains how air power helped win the war on the Eastern Front, and how victory shaped Soviet air power doctrine for the decades to come.
By:
William E. Hiestand
Illustrated by:
Jim Laurier (Illustrator)
Imprint: Osprey
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 248mm,
Width: 184mm,
ISBN: 9781472857828
ISBN 10: 1472857828
Series: Air Campaign
Pages: 96
Publication Date: 30 April 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
INTRODUCTION CHRONOLOGY ATTACKER'S CAPABILITIES – The VVS on the brink of victory – Overall Soviet organization – Aircraft roles and capabilities – VVS Order of Battle, January 1945 – VVS Order of Battle, April 1945 DEFENDER'S CAPABILITIES – The last of the Luftwaffe – Aircraft, roles, and capabilities – Luftwaffe Order of Battle, January 1945 – Luftwaffe Order of Battle, April 1945 CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES – The road to Berlin THE CAMPAIGN – Air war over Poland and Germany – January 1945: The Vistula–Oder Offensive – January 1945: The East Prussia Offensive – The exploitation – The halt on the Oder – The fight for the Oder: March–April 1945 – Konigsberg: the fall of the fortress – Berlin: The final offensive – The end in the East – The turn to the flanks – February–March 1945 AFTERMATH AND ANALYSIS FURTHER READING INDEX
William E. Hiestand was born in 1957, and has worked for over 30 years as a US Department of Defense analyst focusing on military issues. He has served in a wide variety of analytic, leadership, and representational roles. He holds an MA in History from Cornell University, and has a lifelong interest in military history, with a particular focus on 20th-century armored and mechanized operations and Soviet military history. He lives in Virginia near Washington DC.
