Bagration to Berlin: The Final Air
Battles in the East 1944-1945 by
Christer Bergstrom
Another Superb Offering
Written by a leading expert in World War II air operations on the Eastern
Front, this is the last in a quartet of books that together give total coverage
of air battles in this theatre of war from 1941 to 1945. It details the final
phase of air operations in the East from late 1943, and then covers the
German defensive operations around the River Dnepr and the Sea of Azov
in September 1943, and the subsequent German retreat and the air bridge
to Cherkassy in early 1944. Final coverage is given to the major Soviet
offensive against the Army Group Centre in mid-1944, the fall of Romania
and the autumn battles in Poland, Courland, and on the Vistula, ending
with the major Soviet winter offensive of early 1945 and the last-ditch
battles over Berlin itself.

The authors writing provides fantastic in-depth detail, and also tells the
story from the viewpoints of both sides and from both strategic and tactical
contexts. The book includes unique eyewitness material and many rare
and previously unpublished photographs, biography boxes, plus data
tables, technical assessments, and appendices.
Personal Review: Bagration to Berlin: The Final Air Battles in
the East 1944-1945 by Christer Bergstrom
Not being a great collector of aviation books I stumbled upon Christer
Bergstrom"s book Kursk The Air battle, which after reading I had to buy his
next offering on the final era of the Second World War on the Eastern front,
namely Bagration to Berlin.
In this his final offering on the brutal campaign on the eastern front the
authour has once again penned a very interesting and well researched
book.
As per his previous offerings on the air battles the book takes sources from
both the Russian and German side to give a balanced view.
It again has a comprehensive loss chart but interestingly only for the
Russian side as most records for the Luftwaffe at this late stage of the war
were destroyed.
There are some rare and unique photos of Russian aircraft flying over
Berlin and landing at captured german airfields in Berlin while the fighting
was still going on nearby.
One thing that appeared to be different in the campaign in the east was
that the Luftwaffe was able to send up planes to assist their ground troops
on a number of occasions resulting in furious air battles.
Indeed the Russians faced the largest number of "experten"(aces)on the
Eastern front compared to the allies, and it was these men and their few
machines that kept the growing number of Russian pilots equipped with
superior aircraft at bay for so long.
As the Luftwaffe began to grind to a halt through a lack of pilots, aircraft
and fuel, the Russians with the dreaded ground attack Il 2 ably suppourted
by large numbers of fighter escorts wreaked havoc on the German ground
forces.The Russians equipped now with the much superior La 7 and Yak 9
began to shoot down large numbers of German aircraft in a complete
reversal of the air campaign in 1941 - 42.
There is anice little piece on the use of the Mistel, a Ju 88 packed with
explosives and piggy backed by a Focke Wulf 190.It was this type of
aircraft that was used to attack the Kustrin bridges over the Oder in April
1945.
As usual from this authour there are a large number of photographs of the
aircraft and personalities involved in the battles
The book is full of combat accounts, and covers all areas of the war from
Kurland, to the collapse of Army Group centre in operation Bagration,
Poland and the Oder crossings to the final battles over Berlin.
Printed on fine glossy paper for excellent photo reproduction, you will find
a wealth of information that is not readily accessible in other books which
tend to concentrate on the land battles.
Well worth reading and highly recommended

For More 5 Star Customer Reviews and Lowest Price:
Bagration to Berlin: The Final Air Battles in the East 1944-1945 by Christer Bergstrom 5
Star Customer Reviews and Lowest Price!