The Last Flight of the Luftwaffe: The Suicide Attack on the Eighth Air Force, 7 April 1945

by Weir, Adrian

• ISBN13: 9780304354474
• ISBN10: 0304354473
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781780227009
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-08-01
• Publisher: Octopus Pub Group
• More Book Details
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Summary

By April 1945, Germany was well on its way to losing the war, suffering an onslaught from the Soviets on the East and ceaseless bombardment by British and U.S. planes on the West. The German command chose to fight back with a small-scale operation requiring only limited resources: they sent relatively inexperienced pilots from the famed Luftwaffe on a suicide mission flying directly into a formation of U.S. bombers. Follow this death-defying and little-known story in minute-by-minute detail.

Table of Contents

Preface	9	(4)
Introduction	13	(4)
The Opposition	17	(12)
General Galland and Der Grosse Schlag	29	(3)
Desperate Measures	32	(4)
Hans-Joachim Herrmann	36	(7)
A Request For Volunteers	43	(10)
Rammkommando!	53	(5)
Plans and Preparations	58	(13)
USAAF Field Order 1914A	71	(14)
1155: The First Combats	85	(13)
The Turn	98	(7)
Focus on the 3rd AD	105	(9)
At the Head of the 45th CBW	114	(3)
One Pilot's Story	117	(5)
9 1/2G in a P-51	122	(3)
First Attacks on the 100th BG	125	(11)
The 486th BG 136	136	(3)
The 100th BG Suffers Again	139	(6)
Friendly Fire?	145	(6)
The `Elbe' Combats	151	(6)
The Bombers Reach Their Targets	157	(11)
Cold Statistics	168	(4)
The Fate of Schulungslehrgang `Elbe'	172	(5)
7 April 1991	177	(9)
Appendices
1 Known Schulungslahrgang `Elbe' Pilots	179	(1)
2 Comparative Ranks	179	(1)
3 3rd Air Division,Field Order 1914A,7 April 1945	180	(1)
4 2nd Air Division,Field Order 1914A,7 April 1945	181	(1)
5 1st Air Division, Field Order 1914A,7 April 1945	181	(1)
6 Eighth Air Force Targets,7 April 1945	181	(1)
7 Eighth Air Force Losses by Formation, 7 April 1945	182	(2)
8 Allied Air Sorties, 7 April 1945	184	(2)
Glossary	186	(1)
Bibliography	187	(2)
Index	189