Phoenix - A complete history of the Luftwaffe 1918-1945

Volume 3: A Growing Confidence 1937-1939.

Based on forty years of detailed research, the Phoenix Project is a unique history of the wartime German Luftwaffe. Going far beyond a simple description of famous air battles and operations the overall work draws extensively on original documents, secondary sources and contemporary accounts to place the Luftwaffe within its proper historical context, gather together its many disparate components and provide a hitherto npublished balance to its diverse activities. In addition to the lead role of the combat air forces the history provides a proper emphasis to the largely unsung work of the Anti-Aircraft Artillery, Luftwaffe ground forces, Signals Service and the Medical Services. It also examines in detail the vital work of the huge training organisation and the organisation and role of a continent-wide ground organisation. All theatres are covered thus placing a much needed emphasis on the Luftwaffe's momentous struggle in the East, a theatre of operations that was always more urgent and more vital to the Wehrmacht. Throughout this work Luftwaffe activities are set within the wider role of overall military operations and Luftwaffe activity is therefore placed back within its proper context in the overall European conflict. Vol.3: A Growing Confidence covers the immediate pre-war period during which the Luftwaffe played a decisive role in the successful Anschluss with Austria, the occupation of the Sudetenland and Bohemia-Moravia and in the final success of Nationalist arms in Spain. This was a period of major expansion and re-equipment and this volume complements Vol.2 by examining in detail a range of topics which include the pre-war development of the Heeresflieger, Lehrtruppen, Seeluftstreitkrafte, Luftnachrichtentruppe and Fallschirmtruppe. There are also detailed studies of the flying training syllabus, flight safety and the use of motor vehicles. As with Vol.2 a major part of this book is devoted to events in Spain including on this occasion Brunete, Teurel, the Nationalist offensive in Aragon, the Battle of the Ebro and the occupation of Catalonia. The structure of the Phoenix Project is totally unique. Five major themes run throughout the history's constituent volumes - (A) Strategy and Command, (B) Ministerial Activity, (C) Technology and Production, (D) Infrastructure and Training, and (E) Operations. These divisions enable the reader to pursue particular areas of interest throughout the overall work or to look at the inter-relationships between the various aspects of Luftwaffe activity.