In the Skies of Europe: Axis Minor Air Forces

During the Second World War the air forces and pilots of the countries allied to Germany played a greater role than hitherto conceded by historians. In this book, Hans Werner Neulen has gathered an enormous amount of information on the air forces of eight countries and the various foreign airmen [including Russian] who fought with the Luftwaffe. Their operations, mostly carried out in conditions of numerical inferiority, their successes and failures, as well as the motivation of these aircrew and their often tragic fate are all incorporated into this comprehensive account.

This is the first cohesive history of the air forces of Italy,Romania,Hungary,Croatia,Slovakia,Finland,Vichy-France and of the foreign members of German air force (Norwegians,Danes,French,Belgians,Dutch,Spaniards,Estonians,Latvians and Russians) during World War Two.The author makes a convincing case for the significant contributions made by the air forces allied to the German Luftwaffe.In 1941 Romania,Hungary,Finland,Italy,Slovakia and Croatia contributed nearly 1.000 aircraft to the German war effort against Soviet Russia.Germany,initially hesitant when it came to supplying aircraft to foreign air forces, was soon induced to provide more and more modern equipment.From 1943 onwards,fighters were the most important weapon of the Axis air forces for the defence of their homeland against Allied bombing campaign.In the author's opinion the Axis pilots were motivated by anti-communism and the desire to protect their peoples against enemy bombing.Mr Neulen has provided an authoritative account of this fascinating yet neglected subject.This review would not be complete without noting the valuable appendixes dealing with the aces aerial victories,aircraft production of Germany's allies,German foreign pilots training procedures and an interesting British interrogation report of Major Eduard Neumann,chief controller of Fighters in Italy from Sept. 1944 to the end of war.The selection and quality of the accompanying photos (around 50) are also to be commended.

Hans Werner Neulen
Paperback 416 pages 2005