Book Review of
The Luftwaffe’s Secret WWII Missions
Authors: Dmitry Degtev & Dmitry Zubov
Pen & Sword Books Ltd.
ISBN: 978-1-52672-547-4
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright 2020
MSRP: $42.95
ISBN: 978-1-52672-547-4
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright 2020
MSRP: $42.95
HISTORY:
On the night of 14/15 August 1944, the roar of an unknown aircraft was heard over the dense forests to the south-east of Moscow. Flying past the Soviet capital, the aircraft turned towards a “secret” landing site at Yegoryevsk on the outskirts of the city. But lying in await were troops of Stalin’s elite secret service SMERSH.
The troops turned on the landing lights and the aircraft, a German machine of some description, swept down to land. As the aircraft touched down, some of the SMERSH troops lost their nerve and opened fire prematurely. The Germans pilot responded quickly and managed to pull his aircraft up in time to brush over the top of the trees at the end of the clearing and disappear back into the dark Soviet sky.
This was just one of many vivid episodes in the operational service of the Luftwaffe’s special and secret units which engaged in the delivery of agents and saboteurs in the rear of the enemy throughout WWII – not just the Eastern Front, but across Asia and Europe. The activities of the pilots and crews of these squadrons, even in the Luftwaffe itself, were kept secret. Information on the operations and missions of these units was known only to a limited number of people.
It was common practice for the crew of one aircraft in these units to know nothing about the assignments of their fellow airmen. At the same time, pilots sometimes did not see who they were carrying, and in official records, instead of data on the time of departure, the airport, the purpose of the mission, the time and place of landing – only the code name was indicated.
The area of activity of such units and aircraft covered the whole of Europe, North Africa, the Arctic Circle, the Urals, the Caucasus, and Central Asia including Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Luftwaffe not only flew to these remote regions, but also created secret bases for their aircraft.
Drawn from German and Russian sources, much of the latter, only recently declassified sources, the authors of this book expose for the very first time the Luftwaffe’s secret operations and reveal the fate of many of the pilots, agents and saboteurs in a story as breathtakingly dramatic as any blockbuster novel.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword Books Ltd. is based in the UK.
This book is hard-cover with a paper jacket that has fold over tabs holding it to the book.
The cover art on the front and back of the paper jacket shows black and white photos that are repeated in the book and described later in this review.
It is 258 pages in 6” by 9 ¼” page format.
The last 3 pages are blank.
It is mostly text.
It contains 62 black and white wartime photos. Including:
A portrait of German officer Karl Edmund Gartenfeld, a BV142/V2 of Aufkl.Gr.Ob.d.L. This plane was used for the delivery of agents to the UK and Ireland, a German He-116V2 with fuselage code T5+BH only used once for a secret mission, an early version Fw-200B used for delivery of agents at the beginning of WWII, Soviet collective troops reading newspapers, citizens in Western Belarus voting in an election in 1940, German paratroopers next to a Ju-52, German paratroopers jumping, a Soviet istrebitelnij (destroyer) battalion, 2 female Soviet machine-gunners from a istrebitelnij battalion, a single German parachutist jumping from a Ju-52, Red Army soldiers with an arrested German agent, interrogation of the German agent, Red Army officers checking the documents found on the German agent
A photo of the Belomorsko-Baltyiyskiy Canal, German Ju-88 with fuselage no. M7+GH of KGr. 806 being prepared for takeoff, a group of German spies in the rear of the Red Army 1942 , German spies preparing to begin their mission after landing, dropping a cargo container with weapons for a German reconnaissance and sabotage group, Soviet soldiers checking the documents of a suspicious person, a Moscow trolly-bus with NKVD slogans on it, a He-111H-6 from Kg-37 used to deliver agents behind Soviet lines – Poltava –summer 1942, a He-115C-1 fuselage code 8L+1H float-plane from Ku.F1.Gr 906 on 8 October 1942- it participated in the evacuation of Estonian saboteurs from Russian territory.
A German aerial photo of the area around Batumi in the Caucasus, German tanks in the Caucasus, a pair of Ju-88A’s from Kg-31 over the Caucasus, a Russian LaGG-3 over the Caucasus mountains, an aerial photo of the city of Mosul in Iraq taken by a Ju-88D reconnaissance aircraft, a German Ju-90 transport aircraft, a German aerial photo of the airfield near Teheran, SMERSH and counter-intelligence personnel, female SMERSH operative Zinaida Manihina, a Soviet militia GAZ-0330 bus, tracks of German aircrafts as seen on British MRU-105 radar, 4 photos of 4 boys of the Abwehr’s “Spy Kids, 2 photos of Soviet radio operators secret service at work, a Ju-90V-8 in flight, a Ju-290A-3 in flight, a Ju-290A-5 on a runway, a Ju-290A-2 fuselage code 9V+AH from FAGr-5 in flight, soldiers of the istrebitelnij Battalion preparing to capture a German Ju-52 aircraft, a Ju-290 captured on the Eastern Front and a photo of her crew, a Ju-290A-7 in flight, an AR-232A, a German pistol with its poison bullets, a pocket grenade launcher with ammo and battery, a photo of captured Soviet spy Peter Tavrin with a German officer, an AR-232B, some of the crew of an AR-232B-05 fuselage code L5+ER, 3 photos this aircraft crashed after a failed landing and 2 photos of Russian soldiers with this aircraft trophy, female Soviet spy Lydia Bobrik after her arrest by the Germans.
Illustrations in the book include:
A Soviet newspaper about the division of Poland between Germany and the USSR, a report in a Soviet newspaper about the arrest of an agent, the NKVD report about the arrest of Antip ;Lukashev, a Russian poster “Help the Red Arm to Catch Spies”, another Russian poster depicting a peasant helping an NKVD officer, Soviet poster urging Soviet children to track down German spies”, a fake Soviet newspaper captured from German agents, German anti-Soviet propaganda material “For Lenin’s cause! Down with Stalin!”, a forged NKVD identity card confiscated from a German agent, 2 Russian posters in the form of comic strips showing the arrest of German agents, an illustration of the Tatzelwurm in a 15th Century engraving, Soviet spy Peter Tavrin’s registration card from the German POW camp he was held in, Russian document tracking of flight of German aircraft of unknown type May 9-1944.
There are 13 maps
2 data lists.
2 pages of references & sources.
THE AUTHORS:
Dmitry Degtev is one of the leading Russian researchers of the history of WWII. Widely known to readers for his publications on military aircraft of the 1930’s & 40’s, he has been studying the air battles of WWII and the history of the Luftwaffe for more than 20 years.
As a result, he has accumulated a huge amount of exclusive material on events and battles previously little known to the wider audience. He also has more than 12 years of experience teaching Russian and world history and currently lectures at Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University. He lives in Russia.
Dmitry Zubov is the author of 22 books on military history. In his books he prefers to analyze the psychological causes of historical events, harmoniously complementing the narrative of his regular co-author Dmitry Degtev. A professional psychologist, Dmitry is an Associate Professor who lectures on psychology at the Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University. He also lives in Russia.
This is a neat book about spy's and agents. It is a lot of heavy reading however. Recommended lightly to modelers and heavily to military historians.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers, the North American distributor of Pen & Sword Books for this review sample. All Pen & Sword titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
On the night of 14/15 August 1944, the roar of an unknown aircraft was heard over the dense forests to the south-east of Moscow. Flying past the Soviet capital, the aircraft turned towards a “secret” landing site at Yegoryevsk on the outskirts of the city. But lying in await were troops of Stalin’s elite secret service SMERSH.
The troops turned on the landing lights and the aircraft, a German machine of some description, swept down to land. As the aircraft touched down, some of the SMERSH troops lost their nerve and opened fire prematurely. The Germans pilot responded quickly and managed to pull his aircraft up in time to brush over the top of the trees at the end of the clearing and disappear back into the dark Soviet sky.
This was just one of many vivid episodes in the operational service of the Luftwaffe’s special and secret units which engaged in the delivery of agents and saboteurs in the rear of the enemy throughout WWII – not just the Eastern Front, but across Asia and Europe. The activities of the pilots and crews of these squadrons, even in the Luftwaffe itself, were kept secret. Information on the operations and missions of these units was known only to a limited number of people.
It was common practice for the crew of one aircraft in these units to know nothing about the assignments of their fellow airmen. At the same time, pilots sometimes did not see who they were carrying, and in official records, instead of data on the time of departure, the airport, the purpose of the mission, the time and place of landing – only the code name was indicated.
The area of activity of such units and aircraft covered the whole of Europe, North Africa, the Arctic Circle, the Urals, the Caucasus, and Central Asia including Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Luftwaffe not only flew to these remote regions, but also created secret bases for their aircraft.
Drawn from German and Russian sources, much of the latter, only recently declassified sources, the authors of this book expose for the very first time the Luftwaffe’s secret operations and reveal the fate of many of the pilots, agents and saboteurs in a story as breathtakingly dramatic as any blockbuster novel.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword Books Ltd. is based in the UK.
This book is hard-cover with a paper jacket that has fold over tabs holding it to the book.
The cover art on the front and back of the paper jacket shows black and white photos that are repeated in the book and described later in this review.
It is 258 pages in 6” by 9 ¼” page format.
The last 3 pages are blank.
It is mostly text.
It contains 62 black and white wartime photos. Including:
A portrait of German officer Karl Edmund Gartenfeld, a BV142/V2 of Aufkl.Gr.Ob.d.L. This plane was used for the delivery of agents to the UK and Ireland, a German He-116V2 with fuselage code T5+BH only used once for a secret mission, an early version Fw-200B used for delivery of agents at the beginning of WWII, Soviet collective troops reading newspapers, citizens in Western Belarus voting in an election in 1940, German paratroopers next to a Ju-52, German paratroopers jumping, a Soviet istrebitelnij (destroyer) battalion, 2 female Soviet machine-gunners from a istrebitelnij battalion, a single German parachutist jumping from a Ju-52, Red Army soldiers with an arrested German agent, interrogation of the German agent, Red Army officers checking the documents found on the German agent
A photo of the Belomorsko-Baltyiyskiy Canal, German Ju-88 with fuselage no. M7+GH of KGr. 806 being prepared for takeoff, a group of German spies in the rear of the Red Army 1942 , German spies preparing to begin their mission after landing, dropping a cargo container with weapons for a German reconnaissance and sabotage group, Soviet soldiers checking the documents of a suspicious person, a Moscow trolly-bus with NKVD slogans on it, a He-111H-6 from Kg-37 used to deliver agents behind Soviet lines – Poltava –summer 1942, a He-115C-1 fuselage code 8L+1H float-plane from Ku.F1.Gr 906 on 8 October 1942- it participated in the evacuation of Estonian saboteurs from Russian territory.
A German aerial photo of the area around Batumi in the Caucasus, German tanks in the Caucasus, a pair of Ju-88A’s from Kg-31 over the Caucasus, a Russian LaGG-3 over the Caucasus mountains, an aerial photo of the city of Mosul in Iraq taken by a Ju-88D reconnaissance aircraft, a German Ju-90 transport aircraft, a German aerial photo of the airfield near Teheran, SMERSH and counter-intelligence personnel, female SMERSH operative Zinaida Manihina, a Soviet militia GAZ-0330 bus, tracks of German aircrafts as seen on British MRU-105 radar, 4 photos of 4 boys of the Abwehr’s “Spy Kids, 2 photos of Soviet radio operators secret service at work, a Ju-90V-8 in flight, a Ju-290A-3 in flight, a Ju-290A-5 on a runway, a Ju-290A-2 fuselage code 9V+AH from FAGr-5 in flight, soldiers of the istrebitelnij Battalion preparing to capture a German Ju-52 aircraft, a Ju-290 captured on the Eastern Front and a photo of her crew, a Ju-290A-7 in flight, an AR-232A, a German pistol with its poison bullets, a pocket grenade launcher with ammo and battery, a photo of captured Soviet spy Peter Tavrin with a German officer, an AR-232B, some of the crew of an AR-232B-05 fuselage code L5+ER, 3 photos this aircraft crashed after a failed landing and 2 photos of Russian soldiers with this aircraft trophy, female Soviet spy Lydia Bobrik after her arrest by the Germans.
Illustrations in the book include:
A Soviet newspaper about the division of Poland between Germany and the USSR, a report in a Soviet newspaper about the arrest of an agent, the NKVD report about the arrest of Antip ;Lukashev, a Russian poster “Help the Red Arm to Catch Spies”, another Russian poster depicting a peasant helping an NKVD officer, Soviet poster urging Soviet children to track down German spies”, a fake Soviet newspaper captured from German agents, German anti-Soviet propaganda material “For Lenin’s cause! Down with Stalin!”, a forged NKVD identity card confiscated from a German agent, 2 Russian posters in the form of comic strips showing the arrest of German agents, an illustration of the Tatzelwurm in a 15th Century engraving, Soviet spy Peter Tavrin’s registration card from the German POW camp he was held in, Russian document tracking of flight of German aircraft of unknown type May 9-1944.
There are 13 maps
2 data lists.
2 pages of references & sources.
THE AUTHORS:
Dmitry Degtev is one of the leading Russian researchers of the history of WWII. Widely known to readers for his publications on military aircraft of the 1930’s & 40’s, he has been studying the air battles of WWII and the history of the Luftwaffe for more than 20 years.
As a result, he has accumulated a huge amount of exclusive material on events and battles previously little known to the wider audience. He also has more than 12 years of experience teaching Russian and world history and currently lectures at Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University. He lives in Russia.
Dmitry Zubov is the author of 22 books on military history. In his books he prefers to analyze the psychological causes of historical events, harmoniously complementing the narrative of his regular co-author Dmitry Degtev. A professional psychologist, Dmitry is an Associate Professor who lectures on psychology at the Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University. He also lives in Russia.
This is a neat book about spy's and agents. It is a lot of heavy reading however. Recommended lightly to modelers and heavily to military historians.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers, the North American distributor of Pen & Sword Books for this review sample. All Pen & Sword titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at: