Messerschmitts Over Sicily: Diary of a Luftwaffe Fighter Commander (Stackpole Military History Series)

I bought this as a gift for my boyfriend. He loved it. He said it was a great book; very interesting.

I recommend this interesting narrative by Johannes Steinhoff for anyone interested in the history of the Luftwaffe at a pivotal moment in history. Although written 25 years after the Second World War, the former Kommodore of the German 77th fighter wing does not disappoint the reader as he vividly chronicles the disintegration of the unit under his command over the skies of Sicily between June 21st and July 13th, 1943. Faced with an overwhelming array of opposition against himself and his men, Steinhoff could do little but watch the round the clock Allied bombing raids destroy airfields, ground crews, and his planes.. On a daily basis, Steinhoff narrates vivid stories of sleep deprived and exhausted German pilots flying away on futile missions returning(less one or two pilots) to bombed out airfields a few hours later. The Luftwaffe pilots nevertheless carried out their their desperate missions as instructed despite the mounting operational difficulties that confronted them. This memoir describes how Steinhoffs pilots and ground crew managed to resourcefully scavenge for parts, supplies, and fuel while repairing their damaged planes and airfields under extreme wartime circumstances. Oberst Steinhoff and his men could do little but follow their orders, all the while being inexorably pushed from Sicily towards the Italian mainland in the wake of the massive Allied invasion. Although there are several interesting descriptions of aerial engagements mentioned in this book, it is important to note that this narrative does not contain swashbuckling tales of derring-do above the skies of war-torn Europe. This is a no-nonsense non-romanticized wartime narrative, an insightful memoir written by a conscientious German Luftwaffe colonel doing his best to keep the men under his command motivated and alive from mission to mission. Steinhoff recognized, as did many of his colleagues, that at this point in time Germany had already lost the war and that the days of the Third Reich were numbered. He witnessed first hand the near-infinite supply of war material, planes, fuel, and men the allies had at their disposal and came to the correct conclusions. The German High Command became increasingly detached from reality and could not seem to understand why their beleaguered forces were incapable of stemming the tide of the Allied and Soviet armies and Air Force(s). Was it cowardice and incompetence, 'softness' and dereliction of duty that was causing these catastrophic losses for the Luftwaffe, as Reichsmarshall Hermann Goring so vigorously argued? Or was Germany finally outclassed, out-gunned and significantly outnumbered (sometimes at ratios greater than 50 to 1) on nearly every front as many German officers have opined in their memoirs after the fact? The German Reich at this point in mid 1943 still had the ability to mass produce planes and machines, but was quickly running out of soldiers, men, fuel, and more importantly trained pilots. The best part of this book for me was Steinhoff's insightful epilogue on this chapter of history (and on the subject of war in general) written after many years of service in both the German Air Force and later NATO. A worthwhile read written by an intelligent, brave, and conscientious leader of men.

This book by German fighter pilot Johannes Steinhoff (15 September 1913 – 21 February 1994) is a weird one. See, I mosderately enjoyed the book, but it's indeed weird...First, as Steinhoff writes at the epilogue of the book, he never intended to write anything about the war. But, suddenly, he felt the urge to write about the wartime period that most was glued in his head, because it was the first time he felt the German High Command had given him an impossible task to achieve, and also the moment he felt defeat was sure: the invasion of Sicily, in 1943, soon after his fighter Gruppe (JG 77) had fled from Tunis.So, even if the eight chapters of the book have date titles (for example: "Trapani, June 21, 1943"), they are really just frames for things occurring around that date, and also for reminiscences of other things he experienced in World War II (Battle of Britain, Russian front, etc). And it was clearly not written during the war, but decades later.And what about what is inside? Well, it depends on your taste. It is so rare to find anything written, using a German point of view, of specifics Jagdgeschwaders, that anything goes. If you are searching for daring feats of aerial combat, it is not here. Steinhoff mentions exactly three actions of him in Sicily: shooting down one B-17 which was flying at sea level, in a frontal attack; trying (and failing) to shoot down a straggler B-17 with his Stab unit (three Me-109s) and strafing an Allied military convoy in a road.Other than this, it is the telling of dwindling number of operational fighters to up into the air each day in hopeless missions, talks with the General of Fighters Adolf Galland and his aide Larsen, making decisions about which airfield/camp to use for landing, and the final decision to leave the island of Sicily. Not so much more than that. We don't even know the names of the pilots of his Gruppe, other than his HQ flight pilots and one or two Gruppe commanders.

The secondary title of the book is very accurate. This is not what would ever have been considered an "official war diary," since it's informally written and concerns the author's personal viewpoints.The time frame covered is at a stage later in World War Two, after the Axis forces have been defeated in North Africa, but before the European mainland invaded by the Allied forces. The author proceeds to describe his role and that of the men under his command through, what for him, was an exceedingly difficult situation. We get a glimpse of an honorable man under trying circumstances, yet trying his best to "do his duty" to his country and leaders far less "honorable."The epilogue is very thoughtful and incisive; the author certainly expressed his conclusions based of the Sicily experience and beyond in an inimitable way: "By the time these events took place, the leaders of the Reich had abandoned every standard of responsible action, even as regards their own soldiers."Additionally, from other sources: Oberst (colonel) Steinhoff flew with JV-44 the "squadron of experts" in 1945, alongside General Adolf Galland. He was subsequently severely burned in a crash landing, but recovered well enough to assume a role in the Bundesluftwaffe in the 1950's.I would give this book 6 stars, were it possible to do so.

Thoughly enjoyed this book always good to get the other sides point of view, highly recommend this book to anyone interested in mto of ww2