Blitzkrieg in the West 1939-1942 (Luftwaffe at War Serie n°3)

When Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, the pointed end of its mighty spear was the formidable Luftwaffe. Born from the ashes of Germany's ignominious defeat in the First World War, this potent force had been forged in secret and armed with the best arms that industry could provide. 

A superb tactical air force, it helped move the Wehrmacht and its Panzers from Poland through the Low Countries and into France. Its pilots, led by Spanish Civil War veterans who had revolutionized modern air combat, were far more experienced than their Allied counterparts, and had racked up prestigious quantities of air and ground victories by the time the French coast was reached. With an invasion of England foremost in Hitler's mind, Goring boasted he could bring the island nation to its knees with the Luftwaffe alone during the summer of 1940. 

However, within a few months the strategic and doctrinal shortcomings of the mighty German air force had been exposed by a small band of British fighter pilots, significantly aided by scientific and industrial genius. By 1942 the inexorable German advance had ground to a halt everywhere. Hitler continued to order offensive operations, but the verve was gone. This book traces that heady period of German success through the pictures of Luftwaffe personnel — pilots, crewmen and press photographers — who thought to preserve it on !