STUKA SQUADRON: STUKAGRUPPE '77 - THE LUFTWAFFE'S FIRE BRIGADE

The famed Junkers Ju87 'Stuka' dive bombers spearheaded Hitler's Blitzkrieg attacks that tore across Europe between 1939 and 1943. The combination of this 'Flying Artillery' with fast- moving Panzer groups enveloped and crushed the slow-moving and clumsy formations of conventional armies, and gave Germany swift opponents. and cheap victories over almost all her

Of all the Stukagruppen employed during the war, one unit, St.G.77, earned particular fame, for it took part in every major operation from the invasion of Poland to the retreat from Kursk. In between it saw hard service in France and Flanders, over the English Channel, and in Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete. It then served for the rest of the war on the Eastern Front, taking part in the great victories of 1941, the hard sieges like that of Sevastopol in 1942, and the in 1945. bitter fighting retreats that finally ended in Berlin

This meticulously researched book, while covering the record of the whole of Stukagruppe 77, concentrates on one particular Staffel to illustrate in detail the work of the whole Gruppe. Flying with it was a young officer who was made the Gruppe's official photographer, and from his enormous collection of pictures Peter Smith has selected the finest, many never seen before, to illustrate every aspect of life in a front-line Stuka unit. They show not only vivid combat scenes such as vertical dives on French troop columns and Soviet tanks and fortresses taken from the Stuka's cockpit, but also the unknown side of life in a Luftwaffe unit off-duty scenes, Russian prisoners, and visiting celebrities such as Göring, Hitler and the King of Rumania. Also shown are the effects of six years' non-stop campaigning, as the Stukas kept on flying.

Dive bomber historian Peter Smith presents in this remarkable book a chronicle of the air war from the German viewpoint, and from the sharp end. As such it is a unique and valuable record.

Seen through the lens of one of its official photographers during World War II, and amplified by the meticulous research of dive bomber historian Peter C. Smith, this is the remarkable story of Stukagruppe 77, from its formation to its demise. This crack Luftwaffe unit spearheaded the German military conquests of almost the whole of Europe, and took part in every major operation, culminating in the final bitter retreat from the Eastern Front.


But the photographs show more than just vivid combat scenes of dive bombing operations shot from the cockpit of the Stukas themselves, unique and dramatic though they are. They also show the other side of life in a Luftwaffe unit off-duty scenes, Russian prisoners, and visiting celebrities such as Göring, Hitler and the King of Rumania.

Here is a unique chronicle of the air war from the German viewpoint, and from the sharp end a valuable new perspective on World War II.