Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1933-1945

by Williamson Murray

Book Overview

A penetrating and powerfully presented explanation of the successes and failures of the German air force in World War II. "Authoritative and thorough . . . an interesting and thought provoking book of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555210872
• ISBN13: 9781555210878
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Book Sales
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

As good as it gets!

I have read well over a hundred books on world War II over the years, and I would rate this as a potential number one! Professor Murray doesn't just recite dates, pilot names, losses and then move on. What makes his book so interesting and so valuable is two things -- trends / insights and causal analysis. Prof. Murray uses his extensive research (very abundantly noted) to clearly identify trends in Luftwaffe decision making. He notably describes THE most important decisions that led to Germany's defeat -- the dual death bells of Inadequate Production and Overcommitting limited resources. His coverage of the early war years is superb, as he clearly shows, by detailed statistics, that Luftwaffe attrition in 1940 laid the groundwork for eventual defeat -- because of the dual death bells mentioned above. Another notable factor is how he threads the ever-present spectrum of Attrition into trends and decisions. It became clear to me because of this book, more than any single other, how specifically Germany was ground down in QUALITY of fighting personnel, not just outnumbered in weapons. The impact of attrition on fighting quality was an indirect theme throughout the analysis. As his text successfully describes trends with his keen insights, he goes into superb analytical conclusions at the end of each chapter regarding the decisions that were made, why they were made incorrectly, and the downstream effects of those decisions. Let me provide a quote: "Between July 1940 and December 1941, the Germans lost the air war over Europe for 1943 and 1944. Ignoring the severe attrition that had occurred even in the Battle for France, ..., The impact of aircraft and crew loses on the Luftwaffe's force structure, the strain of sustained operations on the maintenance and supply systems, and the difficulties encountered in attenpting to escalate the Luftwaffe's involvement, ..., these interrelated factors largely determined the Luftwaffe's fate in the upcoming air battles of 1943 and 1944." Of interest throughout is how Prof. Murray describes the critical decisions regarding force structure, production, and limiting resource expenditure that COULD have been made just as other like decisions were. Specifically he mentions proper utilization of the French economy for wartime production as had been successfully done with Czechoslovokia -- as well as how to utilize a selective "hit and run" Fighter approach against the superior allied aircraft numbers in Sicily and Italy as had been so successfully done against the RAF over France in late 41 and 42 (obtaining a 3-to-1 loss advantage). Prof. Murray passes the test of true knowledge by organizing details and facts into clearly understandable trends with discernable watermark decisions. Finally, is the readability. Rather than dry and mundane, this to me was hard to put down. Facts and stastistics are gathered into clear diagrams and tables, so the text does not seem cluttered. There are lots of "

Well researched, but not for the casual reader

Professor Murray obviously did extensive research for this book. Packed with statistics, Murray outlines the factors that eventually caused the decline and defeat of what was arguably the best air force in WWII.If you are looking for a book of pretty pictures, or perhaps some tales of bravery and action from pilots, this book is not for you. It is rather aimed at students of history who love to delve into the subject at a deeper level.A nice addition to the library for those who know why the Me 109 should be called the Bf 109.