Alarmstart: The German Fighter Pilot's Experience in the Second World War

Alarmstart (scramble) charts the experiences of the German fighter pilots in the Second World War, based on extensive recollections of veterans as well as primary documents, diaries and flying log books, with photographs from the veterans themselves, many never previously published.

For anyone interested in this period, and specifically the experience of members of the Luftwaffe, the information provided is of  great value as there are no more than a handful of WW2 Luftwaffe members alive today. Patrick Eriksson had the foresight to record their experiences first-hand before it was too late. Some witnesses ended up as senior fighter controllers, and one was even a Luftwaffe psychologist. The recollections and views of the former pilots are put within the historical context of the German aerial war.

By no means all the witnesses were from the ranks of the ‘aces’, and the awful strain of the conflict is manifest: ‘My friend Leo, Kapitän of the 8/JG 54, in the last weeks on the Channel front developed insomnia, anxiety attacks. He was “flown out” (abgeflogen) and should have been relieved. He was shot down and killed in September 1940.’

This first volume covers Poland, Denmark and Norway, the Phoney War, the invasion of France and the Low Countries, the Battle of Britain, combating the RAF sweeps in the West, and finally, the Battle of Germany (home defence).

Available from:
Amberley Publishing
 

Lilliput Fleet

To guard our harbours and coastal convoys, Britain called up the Lilliput Fleet, a tiny fighting force of trawlers and drifters hastily converted into warships to face the might of Nazi technology, the Luftwaffe, mines and E-boats. The fishing fleet became the Royal Naval Patrol Service - a vital arm in the war at sea.

Their resources were few but their courage boundless. The little ships tackled any task, sweeping safe channels for merchantmen, dealing with each and every mine, hunting U-boats, participating in all landings from Madagascar to Normandy.

The ex-fishermen were joined by amateur yachtsmen and unabashed landlubbers. United by their dauntless determination, they welded themselves into a force to be reckoned with.

A. Cecil Hampshire, at the time a naval officer at the Admiralty, was intimately connected with the formation of the Patrol Service, and from his own experiences and the official records he has written a unique history of these little ships.

Available from:
Amazon