Customer Reviews

German Fighter Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille: The Life Story of the Star of Africa (Schiffer Military History)

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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.

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.

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!"

This is probably the best book on one of, if not the, greatest fighter pilot of the war. Even though there are a few Marseille bios out there, this book is definitely the best and worth it! The pictures and narrative are enjoyable and provide a fairly comprehensive account of Marseille's life. Marseille's 158 kills by Sept 30 1942 all against allied pilots, his idiosyncratic flying style, 17 kills in one day, and an average of 14 bullets per kill probably make him the greatest fighter pilot of all time and maybe the greatest combat pilot after Rudel. He also died after an engine failure, rather than being shot down. Kurowski provides a great chronicle of Marseille's life!

His feats were unparalled and untouched by any other German pilots during the Second World War. His fame became legendary. Galland, General der Jagdflieger, called him the ' virtuoso of all German fighter pilots.' Kesselring, Generalfeldmarshal, called him , 'the greatest fighter pilot of all times'. The man in question is Hans-Joachim 'Jochen' Marseille. His motto was 'always look ahead, not behind.' His career from 1940 to 1942 saw him rise from a troubled ensign to a self-confident Hauptmann, chiefly due to the support of Eduard Neumann, his GeschwaderKommodore and others like Major Franzisket. Mr Kurowski is quite right when he emphasizes this link between Marseille's success and the tremendous support and encouragement he got from his Geschwader mates. He was undoubtedly the best gunner in the Second World War on either side and he probably had the best ' eagle's eyes' as well. His 158 kills, all against Western(chiefly British) aircraft makes it all the more remarkable. His exploits became legendary in the deserts of Cyrennaica and Egypt, and 'Yellow 14' became the most feared of all German Bf-109s rising to meet the British and her colonial airforces. His kills were achieved against the most difficult odds, one of his closest comrades , Stahlschmidt once said,' sometimes a handful of Bf-109s took on whole squadrons of British Hurricanes, Spitfires and other craft.' Additionally, nobody could emulate the acrobatic flying which only Marseille was capable of. Generalfeldmarshal Rommel, a gruff man at times, whose respect could be won with only the most difficulty, had this to say when he met Marseille. " I am putting on my best coat for this meeting." This showed in what esteem he held the 'Star of Africa'. Fighting against overwhelming odds the strain began to show in Marseille's features. Still he carried on his characteristic fight against the enemy. His 17kills on a single day in September 1942 is a world record by any fighter pilot of any air force. Much later, on a fateful day , flying a new Bf-109G, Marseille, on a 'freie Jagd' ,was returning when smoke filled his cockpit.He managed to get out but because of the smoke failed to see the rudder and probably hit it. His lifeless body fell to the desert, the parachute never opening. He had died an airman's death without being vanquished by an enemy. This book is definitely very readable and interesting. It is the life story of the premiere fighter pilot of the world and a young man (only 23 years when he died) given to making pranks and practical jokes on his comrades. Furthermore, he won their love and respect, to many older than himself, he became an adopted son. Franz Kurowski had written a brilliant story.

This could have been one of the best WW II books to come out. I have a collection of over 300 covering all wars from the civil war. I have read approx. 1500 more. This book has all the facts at hand, but the presentation lacked flow. The book had great pictures that helped to keep track of the events. The writer jumped around like a flea on a hot plate. I would love to see the life of one of the greatest fighter pilots of any war in a pocket book by a author like Tolliver, Alexander Mc Kee or Edwin P. Hoyt who can make the story flow. I waited many years to get this book so it was a great disappointment in its present form. Still its the best on the market for the life of the Star Of Africa. Less pictures of Marseille and more of the aircraft used in Africa would have helped also.

I purchased this book after reading about other Fighter Aces and realised that the allied forces during WW2 never had Aces as good or as well known as Galland, Molders and Marseille. This book is easy to read gives family history, his first combat missions, transfer to Africa and his rise to become one of the Worlds Greatest Fighter Aces. The book doesn't just concentrate on Marseille shooting down planes but gives a balanced view including him being in constant trouble with his superiors, reputation as a bit of a bragger but his Commanding Officer saw this as insercurity he apparently even bedded a starlet of the time, the book gives an overall picture of the African campaign and how Marseilles Squadron fitted into the overall picture, has enough pictures to give the reader a feel of the African Campaign and the major players without turning into a picture book.

This beautifully crafted book chronicles the legendary feats of Hans-Joachim-Marseille, Germany's "Ace of Aces" in WWII and arguably the greatest fighter pilot of WWII, if not of all time.

Easy to read and thoroughly exciting, this book is a real gem. Highly recommended!

I have finished in three days. The book is excellent. Marseille left great impression to me not as only virtuoso air fighter but as a great human person as well. Maseille's great spirit is whole involved here. I can fully recommend to those who have not read this book yet.

Hans-Joachim Marseille achieved more in 17 months than most of us could do
during a lifespan. From april 1941 until september 1942, he shot down 151
british airplanes, more than anyone else on the western front. This book
of Mr. Kurowski is a fitting tribute to this great fighter pilot. It is filled with rare pictures of ''the star of Africa''. Note that it's not a written biography. However, you have the essential facts about the life of Marseille. The only thing missing is his full victory record. If we compare Marseille to Erich Hartmann, it's the same as comparing the great Ayrton Senna to Michael Schumacher. In the end, Schumacher had more pole positions than Senna, but in order to do so, he needed twice more races than the famous Brazilian driver.