MILITARY GENERAL World War II Luftwaffe –

The inside story of the chaos which existed in the German Luftwaffe in the closing stages of the war describes in detailed and dramatic fashion his experiences.

Book detailing the experiences of a Luftwaffe fighter pilot named Willi Heilmann, who served on the Western Front during World War II, primarily focusing on his harrowing dogfights against Allied forces in the skies over France and Germany during the later stages of the war, particularly from the D-Day landings until the war’s end; providing a first-hand account of the desperate struggle of German pilots facing overwhelming odds against superior Allied air power. 

“This is a much underrated, yet fundamentally excellent account of one pilots war, flying FW-190s for the Luftwaffe in the closing stages of WW2.

This is a superbly written (although very clunkily translated and quite poorly edited) account of a senior pilot in the elite JG54 fighter squadron, fighting against overwhelming odds from D-Day to the last battles of WW2. Willi Heilmann had an interesting career, fighting as an infantry officer from the outset before transferring to the Luftwaffe. It is a minor disappointment that this no doubt interesting facet of his career is left almost untouched, but perhaps it is for the better as the book concentrates in some detail (with considerable success) on the relentless, overwhelming and ultimately futile battle against the odds.

Heilman was a very successful fighter pilot and a wily character who survives against the odds during a period of high losses after D-Day (by the end of the book only him and one other have survived from the 80 replacements who started previously). He seems to spend half of the book either in a parachute or a badly damaged FW190 and seems to have been incredibly lucky to have survived the war almost unscathed, unlike the majority of his compatriots. His accounts of aerial combat are excellent and some of the best I have read, if you have any interest in aerial warfare this is a must read and definitely one of the best accounts, particularly of the German side.

This is a book about the reality of the German side of the war: young men killing and dying for an ultimately futile cause. Despite Heilmann fighting for the Nazis you will fail to be unmoved by the last chapter of the book and it says everything about what these men must have thought as the Germany they had loved and died for collapsed around them.”

pp. 202, illusts First Edition #160225 (Name on prelims.)