Jagdgeschwader 26; the German elite fighter unit; was more feared by the Allies than any other Luftwaffe group. Based on extensive archival research in Europe; personal combat diaries and interviews with more than 50 surviving pilots; Caldwell has assembled a superb day-to-day chronicle of JG 26 operations; from its first air victory in 1939 to its final combat patrol in 1945. A microcosm of World War II exists in the rise and fall of this famous fighter wing. For the first two years of the war it was an even match between the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfs; but the scales tipped in favor of the Allies in 1943 with the arrival of the Eighth US Air Force and its peerless P-51 Mustang. The book has been endorsed by the top fighter commanders of three air forces: the RAF (Johnnie Johnson); the USAAF (Hub Zemke); and the Luftwaffe (Adolf Galland) and is considered essential reading for anyone interested in the aerial war of 1941–45.
#6004306 in Books William Tomkinson 2006-09-19Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .75 x 5.51l; .94 #File Name: 1846770882336 pagesWith Wellington s Light Cavalry The Experiences Of An Officer Of The 16th Light Dragoons In The Peninsular And Waterloo Campaigns Of The Napoleonic Wars
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. First-rate Primary SourceBy Pierre a' FusilIt behooves every Historian (armchair..or academic)to seek out primary source material in their study of a topic. Everything else is ultimately just interpretation. This war diary by a young cavalryman in the Peninsula is unrelieved by second-hand editorializing and offers a view rarely found into daily military life.Tomkinson was a very young man at the commencement of his service. There is a clear improvement in his ability to capture his experiences in the written word over the years covered by his diary. But even the sometimes rather sparse descriptions of his early days at war offer interesting detail of light cavalry duty. In addition to his own text; Tomkinson has included several high-level order-of-battle tables for various points in the campaigns. There are also excerpts of letters from his commanding officers; and other correspondents of note. These all add additional interest to any already highly useful narrative.Anyone seeking a stylized treatment; or a text "improved" for the modern reader should be forewarned however. This is mainly an original war time chronicle; written in early nineteenth century style by an educated young officer. Due to the constraints of campaign writing; some of Tomkinson's entries are brief and the flow of events is not always clear or strictly linear. The book reads as a diary; without real chapters; and sometimes without conventional grammatical niceties (paragraphs; proper sentence structure; etc.). There is thus little evidence of retrospective editing by the author. The publisher has chosen (wisely in this case) to present the diary as written.It is not often a historic document of this scope (Tomkinson covers nearly 8 years of service) and immediacy is readily available. Highly reccommended for any serious student of the period; the horse cavalry; or the British military.
