Customer Reviews

Transporter Volume One: Luftwaffe Transport Units 1937-1943 (Luftwaffe Colours)

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Classic Publications branch away from their excellent Jagdwaffe series to examine the transporters of the Luftwaffe. The book covers pre war development, the Polish campaign, operations in Denmark, Norway, glider & paratrooper operations in Belgium & Holland to seize key bridges & fortress Eben Emael. Also covered is the invasion in the Balkans & the airborne invasion of Crete where a miscalculation of British & Commonwealth strength almost brought about a miscarriage of the operation. However, the Germans prevailed once Maleme airfield had been captured & reinforcements, equipment & materials could be flown in to secure the island, but the Germans suffered terrible losses in terms of men & Junkers 52 transport aircraft. With the opening of the Eastern Front the luftwffe transport units would be in much demand because of the poor Russian roads & the different Russian rail gauge. They would also be called upon to supply encircled troops at Demyansk & later Stalingrad. The successful Demayansk relief operation set a dangerous precedent for the relief operation for the trapped sixth army at Stalingrad. Some top Luftwaffe staff recognised the impossible task at hand due to limited numbers of serviceable aircraft, severe weather & supplying an entire army, with General Wolgram von Richthofen declaring it 'Stark, staring madness!', however the transport aircrews set about the task with much courage & determination. It was around this time Goring suggested that a number of men on active service with the transport units should be decorated with the Knights Cross. The Stalingrad airlift cost the Luftwaffe 488 aircraft & 1000 irreplacable aircrews. The author also examines the airsupply of the Seventeenth Army in the Kuban bridgehead & air transport in the Mediterranean. The Afrika Korps were constantly in short supply of fuel, supplies & replacements & would rely heavily upon air transport, but the transports themselves were too limited in number to service both Russia & Africa, vulnerable to fighter attacks & losses could never be made good.

The book is a testimony to the men & aircraft that served with the Luftwaffe transport units that went largely unrecognised except in the eyes of the German troops who affectionately named the Junkers 52 as Tante Ju (or Auntie Junkers). The book includes many excellent photographs (including Ju 52's, Bv 222's flying boats, Me 323's, He 111's, gliders) some in colour. There are also many colour profiles, but only of the workhorse Junkers 52. Recommended reading for the keen historian & modeller.

There must be thousands of books on Luftwaffe fighters and bombers and their aircrew available. Yet few books, especially in the English-language, have been published on Luftwaffe transport units, who played an absolutely vital role in Germany's rise and fall. With this volume, the first of two, Martin Pegg and 'Classic Colours' provides a much-needed history of this essential component of the German war machine.

Pegg traces the history of Luftwaffe transport from its pre-war development through the initial Blitzkreig campaigns to the end of 1943. In all this the mainstay of Luftwaffe transport units was the ungainly, tri-motored Junkers 52 whose crews tirelessly supported the various campaigns that spread the Nazi empire across Europe and Africa. Pegg does an excellent job of summarizing the contributions Ju 52's made in the conquest of Norway, Holland, the Balkans, the ill-fated Crete operation, the North African campaign and the initial attack on Russia.

As revealed in Pegg's book though, the 'Tante Ju' units repeatedly suffered crippling losses - in the Holland invasion, the Crete landing, North Africa, etc. - and, consequently, there were never enough transports available to adequately support Germany's armies.

Volume One of TRANSPORTER is well illustrated with over 200 color and black & white photographs and 13 color profiles by Fernando Estanislau.

Luftwaffe fans will enjoy this book. It provides an interesting, informative and well-illustrated look at some unsung Luftwaffe units who contributed to Hitler's early successes.