Under the Guns of the German Aces

Two of the authors of Under the Guns of the Red Baron have here followed up their successful formula by writing about the victories and victims of four German aces who deserve the limelight usually focused on Manfred von Richthofen. The quartet is comprised of Max Immelmann, Herman Göring, Werner Voss and Lothar von Richthofen, an interesting mixture covering all periods of German fighter history in the war.

Immelmann has been fairly well-covered in the past, such as in Norman Franks' potted history of his victims in C&C Vol 11 No 1 which, one suspects, was the seed for the Under the Guns books. But here Norman's original information has been greatly expanded. Göring has also been the object of a lot of attention by writers but, in his case, not really because of his WW1 combat record. The authors try to rectify that but they found a high percentage of the future Reichmarshal's claims to be untraceable in Allied records. Even to be generous to Göring, it has to be said that he indulged in a degree of 'wishful thinking' in his combat claims. The authors' lack of success in presenting the full picture with Göring makes one wander why they persevered with him when there were better aces who could have been used to make up the quartet in this volume.

Voss, on the other hand, is a welcome inclusion as his war record has been much discussed but seldom scrutinised until now. His famous 'last fight' does not feature as much as I expected but, none the less, this is about as close to a full biography as we are likely to see.

This could also be true of the last of the four Pour le Merite fliers covered for, while Lothar von Richthofen seldom fails to receive a mention in any coverage of his elder brother, his own score of 40 kills is too often skated over. Yet it was a highly creditable achievement as this chapter of the book relates. Readers of the earlier volume will know that the authors don't just unfold the German pilots' combat careers, they also detail the lives of the known victims, making the book as much one about Allied airmen as it is about their German victors and this alone makes the book worth reading. Despite one or two quibbles, such as the authors' statement in several places that 'so and so learned to fly at his own expense' - an erroneous interpretation of the records and the omission of colour in the present volume, this is also another fine piece of research with something of interest for most members.