Alarmstart South and Final Defeat: The German Fighter Pilot's Experience in the Mediterranean Theatre 1941-44 and Normandy, Norway and Germany 1944-45
Now in paperback - The personal reminiscences of Luftwaffe veterans and original documents and images give a unique insight into the Mediterranean theatre and late aerial war battles.

Alarmstart South completes Patrick Eriksson’s Alarmstart trilogy on Second World War German fighter pilots, detailing their experiences in the Mediterranean theater (1941-1944), and during the closing stages of the war over Normandy, Norway and Germany (1944-1945).

He utilizes extensive personal reminiscences of veterans and original documents, set within a brief factual framework of campaigns, equipment and the progress of the war. Veterans who flew in Me 109, Fw 190 and Me 110/410 aircraft provide their stories in their own words. They range from junior NCOs to Colonels, including a senior fighter controller and even one of the Luftwaffe’s psychologists.

The Mediterranean theater provided the top scoring aces on both sides for the entire war (excluding the Russian front battles): Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 victory claims) on the German side and South African ‘Pat’ Pattle (an estimated 41+), on the Allied side. In the air battles over the Mediterranean region, many aircrew ended up ‘in the drink’ with little chance of being found.

Occasionally, a miracle would happen, as with Dr Felix Sauer of JG 53, a pre-war biology teacher, who used his knowledge of chemistry and a calm demeanor to survive eight days in a dinghy at sea without water, apart from rain or dew. For many pilots the war would end only in death, for others in imprisonment. Oberfeldwebel Horst Petzschler endured forced labor in southern Russia: ‘On 22 September 1949 I arrived in Berlin, my home town, weighing 118 pounds, half dead but having survived!'
1133295160
Alarmstart South and Final Defeat: The German Fighter Pilot's Experience in the Mediterranean Theatre 1941-44 and Normandy, Norway and Germany 1944-45
Now in paperback - The personal reminiscences of Luftwaffe veterans and original documents and images give a unique insight into the Mediterranean theatre and late aerial war battles.

Alarmstart South completes Patrick Eriksson’s Alarmstart trilogy on Second World War German fighter pilots, detailing their experiences in the Mediterranean theater (1941-1944), and during the closing stages of the war over Normandy, Norway and Germany (1944-1945).

He utilizes extensive personal reminiscences of veterans and original documents, set within a brief factual framework of campaigns, equipment and the progress of the war. Veterans who flew in Me 109, Fw 190 and Me 110/410 aircraft provide their stories in their own words. They range from junior NCOs to Colonels, including a senior fighter controller and even one of the Luftwaffe’s psychologists.

The Mediterranean theater provided the top scoring aces on both sides for the entire war (excluding the Russian front battles): Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 victory claims) on the German side and South African ‘Pat’ Pattle (an estimated 41+), on the Allied side. In the air battles over the Mediterranean region, many aircrew ended up ‘in the drink’ with little chance of being found.

Occasionally, a miracle would happen, as with Dr Felix Sauer of JG 53, a pre-war biology teacher, who used his knowledge of chemistry and a calm demeanor to survive eight days in a dinghy at sea without water, apart from rain or dew. For many pilots the war would end only in death, for others in imprisonment. Oberfeldwebel Horst Petzschler endured forced labor in southern Russia: ‘On 22 September 1949 I arrived in Berlin, my home town, weighing 118 pounds, half dead but having survived!'
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Alarmstart South and Final Defeat: The German Fighter Pilot's Experience in the Mediterranean Theatre 1941-44 and Normandy, Norway and Germany 1944-45

Alarmstart South and Final Defeat: The German Fighter Pilot's Experience in the Mediterranean Theatre 1941-44 and Normandy, Norway and Germany 1944-45

by Patrick G. Eriksson
Alarmstart South and Final Defeat: The German Fighter Pilot's Experience in the Mediterranean Theatre 1941-44 and Normandy, Norway and Germany 1944-45

Alarmstart South and Final Defeat: The German Fighter Pilot's Experience in the Mediterranean Theatre 1941-44 and Normandy, Norway and Germany 1944-45

by Patrick G. Eriksson

Paperback

$17.95 
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Overview

Now in paperback - The personal reminiscences of Luftwaffe veterans and original documents and images give a unique insight into the Mediterranean theatre and late aerial war battles.

Alarmstart South completes Patrick Eriksson’s Alarmstart trilogy on Second World War German fighter pilots, detailing their experiences in the Mediterranean theater (1941-1944), and during the closing stages of the war over Normandy, Norway and Germany (1944-1945).

He utilizes extensive personal reminiscences of veterans and original documents, set within a brief factual framework of campaigns, equipment and the progress of the war. Veterans who flew in Me 109, Fw 190 and Me 110/410 aircraft provide their stories in their own words. They range from junior NCOs to Colonels, including a senior fighter controller and even one of the Luftwaffe’s psychologists.

The Mediterranean theater provided the top scoring aces on both sides for the entire war (excluding the Russian front battles): Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 victory claims) on the German side and South African ‘Pat’ Pattle (an estimated 41+), on the Allied side. In the air battles over the Mediterranean region, many aircrew ended up ‘in the drink’ with little chance of being found.

Occasionally, a miracle would happen, as with Dr Felix Sauer of JG 53, a pre-war biology teacher, who used his knowledge of chemistry and a calm demeanor to survive eight days in a dinghy at sea without water, apart from rain or dew. For many pilots the war would end only in death, for others in imprisonment. Oberfeldwebel Horst Petzschler endured forced labor in southern Russia: ‘On 22 September 1949 I arrived in Berlin, my home town, weighing 118 pounds, half dead but having survived!'

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781398112377
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Publication date: 10/15/2022
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 5.08(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Having retired after a career as a university lecturer in geology, Professor Patrick G. Eriksson has devoted many years to research for this series of books. He returned to primary sources and, crucially, as an associate member of the German Air Force Veteran's Association since 1974, he has interviewed and corresponded with more than a hundred former members of the Luftwaffe, from junior NCOs to Geschwader commanders. Such primary material is unavailable anywhere else and can never be gathered again. He is the author of 'Alarmstart' Vols I, II and III.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Maps 21

1 The Balkan Campaign, April-May 1941 25

2 Western Desert, February 1941-January 1943 47

3 Malta, January 1941-October 1942 86

4 Tunisia: The End in Africa, November 1942-May 1943 107

5 Sicily and Italy, May 1943-September 1944 121

6 South-eastern Europe and the Balkans, 1943-1944 137

7 The Normandy Invasion and Subsequent Allied Re-conquest of France 155

8 Battle over Germany: The Last Twelve Months, June 1944-May 1945 176

9 The Campaign in Norway: An Oft Forgotten Theatre of the Second World War 232

10 The End of the War and Imprisonment: West and East 238

11 Conclusions 254

Notes 262

List of Illustrations 291

Bibliography 299

Acknowledgements 306

Index 314

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