Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. - Eagles of the Third Reich: Men of the Luftwaffe in WWII

EAGLES OF THE
THIRD REICH

Other titles in the Stackpole Military History Series

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Cavalry Raids of the Civil War

Picketts Charge

Witness to Gettysburg

WORLD WAR II

Armor Battles of the Waffen-SS, 194345

Army of the West

Australian Commandos

The B-24 in China

Backwater War

The Battle of Sicily

Beyond the Beachhead

The Brandenburger Commandos

The Brigade

Bringing the Thunder

Coast Watching in World War II

Colossal Cracks

D-Day to Berlin

Exit Rommel

Flying American Combat Aircraft of World War II

Fist from the Sky

Forging the Thunderbolt

Fortress France

The German Defeat in the East, 194445

German Order of Battle, Vols. 1, 2, and 3

Germanys Panzer Arm in World War II

Grenadiers

Infantry Aces

Iron Arm

Luftwaffe Aces

Messerschmitts over Sicily

Michael Wittmann, Vols. 1 and 2

The Nazi Rocketeers

On the Canal

Packs On!

Panzer Aces

Panzer Aces II

The Panzer Legions

Retreat to the Reich

Rommels Desert War

The Savage Sky

A Soldier in the Cockpit

Stalins Keys to Victory

Surviving Bataan and Beyond

Tigers in the Mud

The 12th SS, Vols. 1 and 2

THE COLD WAR / VIETNAM

Flying American Combat Aircraft: The Cold War

Land with No Sun

Street without Joy

WARS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Never-Ending Conflict

GENERAL MILITARY HISTORY

Carriers in Combat

Desert Battles

EAGLES OF THE
THIRD REICH

Men of the Luftwaffe in World War II

Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.

STACKPOLE
BOOKS

This book is dedicated to my lovely wife, Donna P. Mitcham

Copyright 1988 by Samuel W. Mitcham

Published in paperback in 2007 by
STACKPOLE BOOKS
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

Cover design by Tracy Patterson

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mitcham, Samuel W.

[Men of the Luftwaffe]

Eagles of the Third Reich: men of the Luftwaffe in World War II / Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.

p. cm.(Stackpole military history series)

Originally published under the title: Men of the Luftwaffe. 1988.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8117-3405-9

ISBN-10: 0-8117-3405-6

1. Germany. LuftwaffeHistoryWorld War, 19391945. 2. World War, 19391945Aerial operations, German. I. Title.

D787.M56 2007
940.54'4943dc22

2007003011

eISBN: 9780811744515

Table of Contents

Introduction

A re wars fought by men and machines, or are they fought by men with machines? Since history is truly argument without end, this question is somewhat moot, but for purposes of this book I adopt the second premise, since the machines themselves were (and are) the products of men. In other words, I believe that the Luftwaffe lost the war because of human failure, rather than because of technological failure. This is not to say that the technological failure did not occurquite the opposite. I in no way intend to minimize the contributions of those who study the technological aspects of the air war in Europe; I very much respect and admire them. However, it is my opinion that the human factor was (and is) primary in warjust as war itself, in the larger sense, must be regarded as a human failure. For example, the technical reasons why the British Spitfires and Hurricanes were superior to the Heinkel 111s and Messerschmitt 110s during the Battle of Britain are significant questions, but perhaps a more significant question might be: Why were the German combat pilots still saddled with obsolete He-111s and Me-110s as late as 1940?

The purpose of this book is to look at the men behind the airplanes, i.e., to examine the fundamental causes of the Luftwaffes demise. The war has now been over for more than sixty years. The technology of the 1940s has been relegated to museums for decades, but the causes of the Luftwaffes defeat are still with us. One only has to listen to a debate in the American Congress to understand that. If those who do not study the past are indeed condemned to relive it, then this book should serve as a warning to the leaders, strategists, and technicians of today.

Acknowledgments

F irst and foremost, I wish to thank Mr. Harry R. Fletcher and the staff of the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, for all their kind and very professional help.

Thanks also go to the staff of the United States National Archives, Washington, D.C., for providing photographs; to Paula Leming, Professor of Foreign Languages at Henderson State University, for help in translating; and to Dr. Claude Sumerlin of H.S.U. for proofreading and advice. Appreciation is also extended to Drs. Charles D. Dunn and Joe T. Clark for their support, and to Dr. Gene Mueller for assisting in the acquisition of material on the Condor Legion. Gratitude is also extended to the staff of Huie Library, H.S.U., and most especially to Mrs. Barbara Roberts, who has for years been plagued by my insatiable demands for interlibrary loans.

CHAPTER 1