A tribute to one of the top fighter aces of the World War II, this new full length biography appears here in its first edition. Marseilles' wartime exploits are legendary with the 158 aerial victories, including 17 in one day. He was, and still is, considered by many of the Luftwaffe aces to be the premier fighter pilot of the Luftwaffe-all before the age of twenty-three. Also chronicled is the combat life of JG 27, Marseilles' unit, and the various personalities throughout the North African campaign.
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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ace of Aces in WWII,
By A Customer
This review is from: German Fighter Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille: The Life Story of the Star of Africa (Schiffer Military History) (Hardcover)
When looking at the list of German aces who scored over 100 kills one finds HansJoachim Marseille way behind at least 25 other aces, but he ranks above all of them because of his most amazing achievement:He had the highest number of kills against the Western Allies in WWII, thus it can be said that he ranks with Manfred von Richthofen. At one time it seemed as if Adolf Galland would become the "Richthofen" of WWII, but that place was destined for this young Berliner of French descent. It is even more convincing because it was Galland who called Marseille "the unrivalled virtuoso of German fighter pilots". Praise from Galland was hard to come, especially for rivals. And considering the fact that there were so many outstanding aces to chose from,it is highly justified. Many eastern front aces are unknown to most but where ever a discussion of fighter aces takes place, the name of Marseille crops up sooner or later. But Marseille wasn't just a high scoring ace, his charm, flair for childish pranks and affable manners secured him a special place in the hearts of his countrymen and in aviation history. A lot has been said about the top marksmen of the luftwaffe, and that "Marseille is one of them", in my opinion, the ace who needed barely fifteen rounds on average for a kill could hardly be called "one of the best" but was "the best" marksman of the Luftwaffe or any other airforce. And I believe it was Rall,"one of the best marksmen" who admitted that Marseille was the man to beat. Rather like the top U-Boat Ace Ottokar Kretschmer, whose motto was "one torpedo, one ship", instead of the traditional fan of torpedoes fired by most commanders for a ship. Both used their ammunition with devastating effect. This book details all his exploits and the successful aces who emulated his techniques. Marseille died after bailing out from a new Bf109G, hitting his head on the tail,. It seemed the fate of the best to die undefeated in combat, Moelders, Lent(one of the immortal nightfighter aces), Prinz Sayn zu-Wittgenstein(another great nightfighter ace) all went to their deaths in accidents one way or the other.And it seemed with his death the fortunes of the Afrika Korps which he had supported so well also changed. Kurowski has written a fine biography, and it is essential reading for aviation buffs and historians.
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Extraordinary Man,
By
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This review is from: German Fighter Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille: The Life Story of the Star of Africa (Schiffer Military History) (Hardcover)
This is a great book that shows the extraordinary abilities of German pilot Marseille as a flier and marksman as well as his general persona. The book almost reads as a novel in places, with dialogue among the main real-life characters. What comes across is Marseille's self determination in perfecting his art as a fighter pilot and always pushed himself to his physical and mental limits. Marseille was always seen pushing his aircraft to its maximum performance and always seemed to fly harder and faster than his peers in combat. But it is not just Marseille's flying ability that made him truly one of the greatest aces of all time, but also his mastery of deflection angle shooting and sparing use of ammunition. His exploits of shooting down six aicraft in quick succession in seven minutes have become legendary. He was also probably the only pilot to master the tactic of diving in and out of an enemy defensive lufbery circle. It is probably a fitting tribute that he remained unvanquished.
Early in his career Marseille's eagerness, energy and indifference to authority was a source of frustration and antagonism for his superiors like Steinhoff. It was only after his transfer to North Africa did Marseille blossom under the guiding hand of Neumann and Homuth. With all his successes (that were exploited by the Nazi propaganda machine), Marseille was still able to remain humble and great friend and mentor amongest his comrades. He was always keen to lend a helping hand. This book makes excellent reading and has many photographs throughout. The only thing perhaps missing would be colour art profiles of the machines flown by Marseille.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AN EXCEPTIONAL WORK,
By A Customer
This review is from: German Fighter Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille: The Life Story of the Star of Africa (Schiffer Military History) (Hardcover)
I was very pleasantly surprised as to the handsomeness of this volume and also the quality of its' contents. (Amazon kindly sent me a First Edition!) Highly researched, the Author did a masterful job of documentation and verification of Marseille's air victories from both sides of the belligerents. The aerial drama was placed within the proper context of the overall struggle between the land, sea, and air forces of the Afrika Corps and the British Empire. The publication is richly endowed with photographs and inputs from the people who knew the Ace. The Author also enabled me to imagine that I was a "back seat observer" whenever the "Star of Africa" flew an operational sortie: Fully explaining the attributes, physical excellence, strategies, & techniques that separated his meteroic success from that of the ordinary pilot. There was no sloppy sentimentality here to spoil the text. I heartily recommend this book and say to the author, "well done!"
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