Below is the list of chapters in my new book coming out next month: Aces at Kursk: The Battle of Aerial Supremacy on the Eastern Front 1943. It is with Pen & Sword in the UK. The release date in the UK is 30 August. We have the UK Amazon link here: Buy from Amazon (UK). The release date for the U.S. is 30 October. The U.S. Amazon link is here: Buy from Amazon. Both of these links are on the right side of the blog. If you click on the image, it goes to the Pen & Sword site. You can pre-order the book direct from the publisher or Amazon or other sites. I have not yet seen a final copy. Not sure if I will have copies available at our conference: Schedule for the Historical Analysis Annual Conference (HAAC), 27-29 September 2022 – update 9 | Mystics & Statistics (dupuyinstitute.org). It is discounted if pre-ordered. It is cheapest if pre-ordered directly from Pen & Sword. They have a nice pre-order discount. It is not a small book, 392 pages.
Chapter One: The Strategic Air Campaign 1
Chapter Two: Both Sides Prepare 14
Chapter Three: The Strike at Dawn: 5 July 1943 (Monday) 40
Chapter Four: The Fight for Air Superiority: 6-7 July 1943 60
Chapter Five: The Air War Continues: 8-9 July 1943 97
Chapter Six: A Less Intense Air War Continues: 10-11 July 1943 119
Chapter Seven: The Air Battle to Support the Offensive:
North of Kursk, 5-11 July 1943 130
Chapter Eight: The Soviet Counteroffensives: 12 -14 July 1943 185
Chapter Nine: Winding Down: 15-24 July 1943 213
Chapter Ten: The Last Air Offensive 227
Appendix I: German and Soviet Terminology 241
Appendix II: Air Campaign Statistics 251
Appendix III: The Structure of the German Ground Offensive 317
Appendix IV: Commander Biographies 332
Pre-ordered!
Thanks.
Skidson AQW
Adventure Quest Worlds – AQW Server – AQW Private Server 2022
A re you aware of the Hungarian participants on German side?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Heroes-Royal-Hungarian-Second/dp/1911512684/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SYBZR3QGW487&keywords=forgotten+heroes+stenge&qid=1678300021&sprefix=forgotten+heroes+stenge%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-1
Yes, it is all in there.
Hello!
A new book (in Russian) compares reported and actual losses in the air battle over Crimea.
This is the book:
https://www.labirint.ru/books/854134/
Below is the translation into English:
Summing up the overall results of the air part of the liberation operation
Crimea, carried out by troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front together with
Separate Primorsky Army in the period from April 8 to May 12, 1944,
we can say the following.
The pilots of the 8th Air Army were credited with destroying 478 aircraft, of which of which 301 were shot down in air battles and 177 were destroyed at airfields.
The Black Sea Fleet Air Force and pilots applied for about 100 more aircraft
regiments of the 4th Air Army, up to the moment of their reassignment to the 8th Air Army.
Actual Luftwaffe losses, including non-combat and from raids
to airfields, amounted to 72 aircraft, including 17 Bf-109, 16
Non-111, 13 Ju-87, 12 FW-190, 9 Bf-110, 5 Do-24, 3 Ju-88, 3Bv-138, 2 Hs-
129 and 1 Go-145.
During the same period, German pilots were credited with 419 shots down.
aircraft: 252 – from April 8 to 30 and 167 – from May 1 to 12. Wherein
the most successful ace was sergeant major Gerhard Hoffmann,
whose account was 62 victories! In second place is Peter Düttmann with 30
victories, and then Hans Joachim Birkner – 26 victories, Helmut Lipfert
and Hans Waldmann – 25 victories each and Erich Hartmann – 19 victories.
Irreversible losses of Soviet aviation during the Crimean War
The offensive operation consisted of 412 aircraft. 8th VA lost
266 aircraft: 144 in April and 122 in May. 4th Air Army before reassignment
its air regiments to its “neighbors” irretrievably lost 36 aircraft, and the Black Sea Fleet Air Force – 90 aircraft.
For Soviet VVS:
claimed victories 578
actual 72
For Luftwaffe:
claimed victories 419
actual 412
Interesting. I came up with a similar disparity reporting during Kursk in July 1943.
I have the book in pdf format. I can send it to you by email. if you read Russian.
Thanks. I can sort of read Russian. Would love to have it. Could you email to LawrenceTDI@aol.com?
I sent you 2 books by email. added to the air war over the Kuban.
More from this book:
If we talk about the air battle for Crimea in general,
lasting a total of 6.5 months from November 1, 1943 to
May 12, 1944, its results for Soviet aviation were, to put it mildly,
disappointing. Let us remind you that according to the prevailing prevailing
even in Soviet historiography stereotypes, already during the battle for
Kuban in the spring of 1943, “Stalin’s falcons” gained dominance in
air, and then held it everywhere until the very end of the war.
In reality, the ratio of real air victories and
losses during the battles over the Kerch Strait, Sivash and
Sevastopol turned out to be even worse for the spacecraft air force in many cases,
than in 1941–1942! Constantly having a large number
advantage over the enemy, our fighters not only
were able to cover their troops from German and Romanian attacks
attack aircraft and bombers, but also allowed them in many
cases have a decisive influence on the outcome of battles.
As shown in this work, German fighter pilots
usually overestimated their achievements by about 2–2.5 times. This
the difference was formed due to random errors, shortcomings
systems of fixation and confirmation, as well as outright fantasies
some pilots who deliberately lied about the results
air combat. But in general, such an overestimation can be recognized
rather an inevitable error than the result of conscious
postscripts. As for Soviet aviation, in which the overestimation
of their real successes (often equal to zero) by 3–5, and often
and 10 times was the norm, then this trend fit well into the general
features of Soviet reality. In which the same
postscripts and drawing “beautiful pictures” for superiors
bosses have always been the norm. In general, the reasons for these “contrasts”
again should be sought in the social and psychological plane.