Eastern Front 1945

Triumph of the Soviet Air Force

Eastern Front 1945 cover

Description

A detailed, illustrated account of the air campaign that accompanied the Red Army's final push towards Berlin, in which massed Soviet air power defeated the Luftwaffe's high-tech Me 262 jets and Mistel exploding drones.

The last months of World War II on the Eastern Front saw a ferocious fight between two very different air forces. Soviet Air Force (VVS) Commander-in-Chief Alexander Novikov assembled 7,500 aircraft in three powerful air armies to support the final assault on Berlin. The Luftwaffe employed some of its most advanced weapons including the Me 262 jet and Mistel remotely-guided bomb aircraft.

Using photos, 3D diagrams, maps and battlescene artwork, William E. Hiestand, a military analyst with a longstanding interest in Soviet military history, explains how Germany's use of high-tech weaponry and massed Soviet air assaults was not just the culmination of World War II air combat, but also pointed to how the future rivalry with NATO would play out. The VVS used powerful and flexible air armies to control and employ its huge force of aircraft – organizational and employment concepts that would shape Soviet plans and preparations for combat during the Cold War.

For the first time, this volume explains how air power helped win the war on the Eastern Front, and how victory shaped Soviet air power doctrine for the decades to come.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
CHRONOLOGY
ATTACKER'S CAPABILITIES
– The VVS on the brink of victory
– Overall Soviet organization
– Aircraft roles and capabilities
– VVS Order of Battle, January 1945
– VVS Order of Battle, April 1945
DEFENDER'S CAPABILITIES
– The last of the Luftwaffe
– Aircraft, roles, and capabilities
– Luftwaffe Order of Battle, January 1945
– Luftwaffe Order of Battle, April 1945
CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES
– The road to Berlin
THE CAMPAIGN
– Air war over Poland and Germany
– January 1945: The Vistula–Oder Offensive
– January 1945: The East Prussia Offensive
– The exploitation
– The halt on the Oder
– The fight for the Oder: March–April 1945
– Konigsberg: the fall of the fortress
– Berlin: The final offensive
– The end in the East
– The turn to the flanks – February–March 1945
AFTERMATH AND ANALYSIS
FURTHER READING
INDEX

Product details

Published Jan 16 2024
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 96
ISBN 9781472857828
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations Illustrated throughout with around 60 photos and a variety of colour illustrations
Dimensions 248 x 184 mm
Series Air Campaign
Short code ACM 42
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

William E. Hiestand

William E. Hiestand has worked for over 30 years a…

Illustrator

Jim Laurier

Jim Laurier is a native of New England and lives i…

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