Customer Reviews

German War Birds

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Back in the early 1930's, there was a resurgence in interest in WWI (then called 'the great war'), especially the accounts of those on the 'other' side. For example, a number of surviving Zeppelin captains wrote their memoirs (notably 'Zeppelins over England' by Von Buttlar) which were then translated into English. This book is a reprint of the original 1931 text. The book reads with a 30's feel to it, but in my opinion, that is one of its charms. The vintage printing font adds to the effect. Covered are a number of pilots that are nearly forgotten today. Many of the WWI pilots came from the German aristocracy and had a gentlemanly view of war that might be hard to fathom today. They were truly saddened if their foes died in combat and would often treat a surviving enemy pilot to a nice dinner before sending him off to a POW camp. `Vigilant' was the pen name for Claude Sykes, who translated a number of books into English during that period. If you enjoyed this book, you might want to read Lowell Thomas's "Raiders of the Deep" which covers German Submarines of WWI, and likewise was written in the 1930's.