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A review by komet2020
The JG 26 War Diary, Volume 2 by Donald Caldwell
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
The JG26 War Diary, Volume Two: 1943-1945 is, in many respects, one of the most comprehensive, well-researched histories of an air combat unit that I have yet read. It chronicles - through a rich variety of photographs and personal commentaries from pilots and ground staff who served in JG 26 - the story of one of the Luftwaffe's most prestigious and storied fighter units of World War II.
Volume 2 begins on January 1, 1943 when JG 26 was stationed along the Channel coast, bracing itself to contend yet again not only with the Royal Air Force (RAF), but also with a new enemy which came on the scene the previous year: the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and its units of fighters and medium and long-range strategic bombers that made up the Eighth Air Force.
Throughout 1943, the "Mighty Eighth" would grow in size as new USAAF fighter and bomber units arrived from the U.S. to augment units already established in the UK. JG 26 would be tasked with attacking USAAF medium and heavy (long-range) bomber groups as the latter groups began to take the war from German-occupied Europe into the heart of Germany itself through its daylight bombing campaign. The air war escalated in intensity.
Early in 1943, the Luftwaffe High Command had initiated plans to shift JG 26 piecemeal to the Eastern Front, changing places with JG 54 whose Staffeln (squadrons) had already seen extensive combat there. The book details the combat service of the few JG 26 units that were posted to the Eastern Front before the scheme to post JG 26 there was scrapped, owing to the fact that several of the pilots of the one Gruppe of JG 54 that was transferred to the West had found it especially difficult to cope with the much more intensive pace of air combat against the RAF and USAAF, which, in contrast to air combat on the Eastern Front, tended to take place at higher altitudes. So it was that the JG 26 unit that went East, was sent back to the Channel coast and fully re-incorporated into JG 26. The Third Gruppe of JG 54 (III/JG 54) remained in the West, where it served alongside JG 26 for the remainder of the war.
The year 1944 was one of dramatic change in the fortunes of JG 26, as well as Germany itself. The Allies landed in France in June of that year and gradually, German forces would be pushed out of most of Western Europe into Germany itself. Through all those titanic battles, JG 26 managed to maintain cohesion in its respective units as it was called upon to defend Germany. As a reader, I could almost feel the tension that many JG 26 pilots and ground staff experienced as JG 26 pulled out of its long-established bases in France and Belgium and resettled along the German frontier, challenging Allied forces now converging on Germany.
The struggle would continue on until May 8, 1945 when Germany surrendered.
I cannot praise Volume 2 enough. Its two appendices contain extensive information on the organizational structure of JG 26 and the victory claims made by its pilots between 1939 and 1945. There is also a glossary, which goes a long way toward explaining to both aviation enthusiasts (like me) and lay reader alike, aviation terms, abbreviations, and German terminology used throughout the book.
Volume 2 begins on January 1, 1943 when JG 26 was stationed along the Channel coast, bracing itself to contend yet again not only with the Royal Air Force (RAF), but also with a new enemy which came on the scene the previous year: the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and its units of fighters and medium and long-range strategic bombers that made up the Eighth Air Force.
Throughout 1943, the "Mighty Eighth" would grow in size as new USAAF fighter and bomber units arrived from the U.S. to augment units already established in the UK. JG 26 would be tasked with attacking USAAF medium and heavy (long-range) bomber groups as the latter groups began to take the war from German-occupied Europe into the heart of Germany itself through its daylight bombing campaign. The air war escalated in intensity.
Early in 1943, the Luftwaffe High Command had initiated plans to shift JG 26 piecemeal to the Eastern Front, changing places with JG 54 whose Staffeln (squadrons) had already seen extensive combat there. The book details the combat service of the few JG 26 units that were posted to the Eastern Front before the scheme to post JG 26 there was scrapped, owing to the fact that several of the pilots of the one Gruppe of JG 54 that was transferred to the West had found it especially difficult to cope with the much more intensive pace of air combat against the RAF and USAAF, which, in contrast to air combat on the Eastern Front, tended to take place at higher altitudes. So it was that the JG 26 unit that went East, was sent back to the Channel coast and fully re-incorporated into JG 26. The Third Gruppe of JG 54 (III/JG 54) remained in the West, where it served alongside JG 26 for the remainder of the war.
The year 1944 was one of dramatic change in the fortunes of JG 26, as well as Germany itself. The Allies landed in France in June of that year and gradually, German forces would be pushed out of most of Western Europe into Germany itself. Through all those titanic battles, JG 26 managed to maintain cohesion in its respective units as it was called upon to defend Germany. As a reader, I could almost feel the tension that many JG 26 pilots and ground staff experienced as JG 26 pulled out of its long-established bases in France and Belgium and resettled along the German frontier, challenging Allied forces now converging on Germany.
The struggle would continue on until May 8, 1945 when Germany surrendered.
I cannot praise Volume 2 enough. Its two appendices contain extensive information on the organizational structure of JG 26 and the victory claims made by its pilots between 1939 and 1945. There is also a glossary, which goes a long way toward explaining to both aviation enthusiasts (like me) and lay reader alike, aviation terms, abbreviations, and German terminology used throughout the book.