Reference Material

[Thad]

Salutations,

 

I desire to obtain some good reference material ie. book(s), to aid me in creating 'historical recreations of battles or parts of battles' on the eastern front.

 

I'm not interested in a in depth study of the war in the east... but more desirous of tactical references materials about specific battles and their Orders of Battle etc.

 

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

 

[Habu]

There is not a single book which can answer to what you want. You have to take some informations in many book. For mission builder as us, it's very hard to find book which will say that one unit was on that airfield between 2 dates, and which planes they have. And some books are expensive, because they are sold out. Other will give you information about the ground battle with no information about aerial battle. Smetimes on a book we can use only one or 2 pages as mission builder.

 

So, as soon i saw a post talking about book, i have a look, and ask some information, and if it seems good for me, i buy it hoping it will answer to my need.

 

Here are 4 books which are very usefull for mission builder, but they are expensive (thank you again to the man who gave me the title on the forum). They list all the luftwaffe units giving the airfield they used.

 1- Dive bomber and ground attack units of the luftwaffe Vol 1

https://www.amazon.com/Dive-Bomber-Ground-Attack-Units-Luftwaffe-1933-1945/dp/B00OX8PAGE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1485949903&sr=8-3&keywords=dive+bomber+and+ground+attack+units+of+the+luftwaffe

2- Dive bomber and ground attack units of the luftwaffe Vol 2

https://www.amazon.com/Bomber-Ground-Attack-Units-Luftwaffe/dp/1906537097/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485949903&sr=8-1&keywords=dive+bomber+and+ground+attack+units+of+the+luftwaffe

 

3- Bomber units of the luftwaffe vol 1

https://www.amazon.com/Bomber-Units-Luftwaffe-1933-45-Reference/dp/1857802799/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485950266&sr=8-1&keywords=Bomber+units+of+the+luftwaffe

 

4- Bomber units of the luftwaffe vol 2

https://www.amazon.com/Bomber-Units-Luftwaffe-1933-45-Reference/dp/1903223873/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1485950266&sr=8-6&keywords=Bomber+units+of+the+luftwaffe

 

 

I'm looking for the same kind of book about fighters, and other nationality.

 

 

For eastern battles, you have an osprey which give maps from battles on the eastern front. It cover all the war, so you have not all the battles, but the main one, and between 2 or 3 maps by battle.

https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Eastern-Front-1941-45-Military/dp/147280774X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485950809&sr=8-1&keywords=atlas+of+the+eastern+front+1941+45

 

 

If someone has a title about veliki luki, i'm interrest in.

 

[Thad]

Salutations,

 

Attack of the Airacobras: Soviet Aces, American P-39s, and the Air War Against Germany

 

By Dimitriy Loza

 

During its titanic military struggle with Germany, the Soviet Union received a major boost with the arrival and deployment of nearly 5,000 Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter planes-courtesy of America's Lend-Lease program. The impact was dramatic, as the Soviets quickly adapted the planes into a devastatingly lethal force. Dmitriy Loza's account, admirably translated and edited by James Gebhardt, vividly re-creates the battle campaigns of this odd coupling of capitalist planes and Marxist pilots and shines a bright light on a little known part of the air war on the Eastern Front.

The P-39 proved to be the right plane at the right time for a beleaguered Red Air Force. Built for short range and relatively low altitudes, the P-39 was equipped with a powerful engine and weapons that enabled it to outduel and eventually dominate the Luftwaffe from the Caucusus foothills to Berlin.

Focusing on the combat operations and daily life of one unit—the 9th Guards Fighter Division—Loza refutes the myth that the P-39 was used mainly as a "tank buster" or "flying artillery." Instead, its primary mission was to protect Red Army operations from aerial attacks by the enemy. So despite the occasional strafing of trains, truck convoys, and troops, most P-39 operations involved attacks on Luftwaffe bombers and dogfights with their fighter escorts.

Center stage in Loza's story are the P-39 pilots and ground crews themselves, including remarkable Captain Aleksandr Pokryshkin and Major Gregoriy Rechkalov, two of the Soviets' top four aces. In addition, Loza details the organization and operations of the unit's noncombat personnel—who refueled and maintained the aircraft, cleaned and reloaded the guns, packed the parachutes, treated the wounded, guarded the airfields, and commanded the squadrons and regiments.

Based on interviews with Soviet veterans and extensive access to squadron histories and logbooks, Loza provides a rare and insightful look at what it was like to live and fight in this victorious air unit.

 

This looks like it would be great source material for a series of missions/campaigns featuring the upcoming P-39. Let's just hope the plane we are presented with can perform as well as it apparently did in the actual battles.

[Gambit21]

For most aircraft/theaters there just isn't the desirable amount of reference.

It does exist for a few 109, 190 scenarios, Jg-52 for instance, or say an 8th Air Force Mustang or Jug pilot.

Info on Pacific campaigns is easy to come by.

By and large however information is scarce and I find it's best to focus in historically 'plausible' and just create fun, immersive missions that have a bit more adventure involved than than reality. Especially where the Eastern Front is concerned.

 

When PTO gets here I have some historical things planned because I have the reference.

Even then, there will be some "what if" scenarios.

 

Bottom line the players want a fun mission above all else, in a believable historical context.

Knocking yourself out over unit disposition and such is a waste of effort as most will never know the difference.

This I know from experience.

[Thad]

Salutations,

 

It is obtaining good reference material and then determining 'what' to use from such reference material as mission historical background that is key. I agree that most players just want to have fun but I think providing believable missions based upon historical battles 'is' fun. Of course, I see no point in bogging oneself down in needless and copious details. Who has the time and as you wrote, 'most will never know the difference'. Very true, but I would know?

[Gambit21]

I hear you.

I know I went through a lot of trouble making sure that I called out this or that Waffen SS unit, or this or that Allied tank unit for my old Liberation Skies 9th Air Force P-47 campaign back in the day. Falaise Gap, all that....very detailed and historical.

State of the art campaign - nobody seemed to care....or at least nobody took the time to let me know that they did.