Customer Reviews

Transporter Volume Two: Luftwaffe Transport Units 1943-1945 (Luftwaffe Colours) (v. 2)

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Martin Pegg wraps up his coverage of the Luftwaffe's transport arm with this nicely done volume published in 2006. Like Volume One it's a comprehensive, well-illustrated history of the brave but chronically overstretched aircraft and aircrews servicing Third Reich units in all theaters of war.

The years after the Stalingrad defeat were characterized by transport units shuffling back and forth as aerial fire brigades, supplying and shoring up German defenses in Russia, North Africa, etc. There were never enough transports, especially after the crippling losses over Crete, Stalingrad, etc. and the Germans were constantly cobbling together ad hoc units to ferry needed reinforcements, ammunition, fuel and other supplies to crisis points. Given the wide canvas Pegg has to cover, he does a good job of summarizing all this activity.

The text is illustrated with over 200 black & white and color photographs, maps and diagrams. Twelve nicely done color profiles by Estanislau, Brown and Tullis depict the wide variety of aircraft used by Luftwaffe aircrews including the 'Tante Ju,' He 111, SM.73, SM.82, and the gargantuan Me 323.

Classic Colours is to be commended for producing TRANSPORTERS. The missions flown by those intrepid crews might have been unglamorous in comparison to those logged by FW 190 pilots, for example, but they were just as deadly to fly. When all is said, Luftwaffe transport aircraft were the lifeblood of the German war machine and their story has been well told in these two volumes.

Martin Pegg is one of my favourite authors on Luftwuaffe units history. The Volume 2 of his earlier work "Transporter Volume One: Luftwaffe Transport Units 1937-1943" throws us in the firestorm of the last battles of the World War II. Day-by-day sorties, operational situation, loses and victories - you will find it all in this book. Some of the topics are: Operations in Mediterranean region 1942-1943, Tactical markings, Transport sorties on the Southern Sector in the Eastern Front, Evacuation of the Crimea (very important!), Operation Rosselsprung (Attentat on Tito), Balkans and Aegean, Allied Invasion in North-West Europe, Eastern Front 1944-1945 etc. So the the scene is created. Thus Luftwaffe fans will receive their satisfaction.