This is the second volume of Lawrence Paterson's detailed account of all the Luftwaffe's naval operations during World War II. The first volume took the story up to 1942, and by the end of that year Hermann G ring's Reich Air Ministry had subsumed nearly every aspect of Wehrmacht maritime aviation. Kriegsmarine attempts to develop an independent Fleet Air Arm had been perpetually frustrated, reflecting the chaotic nature of the Third Reich's internal military and political mechanics. Driven more by vanity than operational prudence, the Luftwaffe had continually thwarted the advancement of maritime aviation, and by 1942 began to reap the whirlwind it had created.
The U-boat war hung precariously in the balance, the lack of well trained and properly equipped aerial reconnaissance suddenly assuming greater importance than ever before. During 1943 the nature of Germany's war mutated and by its close the Allies were on the offensive in nearly all theatres. This volume resumes the story with Operation Torch in November 1942, when Germany faced an Allied seaborne invasion of North Africa that it was ill-equipped to counter by land, sea or air; and the spectre of even greater invasion armadas loomed on both the southern and western fronts during the months that followed. Facing the Russians, maritime air units were stripped to the bone, those precious few formations available shunted rapidly between military crisis points until barely able to function.
The rise of Luftwaffe maritime operations described in the author's first volume now became, from 1942 onwards, a fall of catastrophic proportions as frequently undertrained crews flew increasingly obsolete aircraft against odds that had become overwhelming. The Luftwaffe was paying the price for its pre-war lack of cohesive strategic planning, none more so than its beleaguered maritime specialists. The author covers this story across all the theatres of the war and in doing so gives the reader a complete and coherent picture of all the Luftwaffe's naval operations. Heavily illustrated throughout, this detailed and exciting narrative will be of huge appeal to both naval and aviation historians and enthusiasts.
About the Author
Lawrence Paterson has spent many years researching aspects of German naval operations and has written more than ten books on various aspects of the Kreigsmarine, including 'Donitz's Last Gamble', 'Black Flag', 'Schnellboote' and, most recently, 'Hitler's Forgotten Flotillas', a study of the Kriegsmarine's security forces, all published by Seaforth. The first volume of 'Eagles over the Sea' was published in 2019.
112 b/w photographs, 1 map
Industry Reviews
Eagles over the Sea provides a comprehensive treatment of its topic, with a good balance between aircraft and people, the narrative being enhanced by eyewitness accounts from airmen who took part in some of the operations covered. The choice of illustrations is ... good, with a number of images of individuals alongside those of aircraft and ships... Eagles is to be recommended as likely to be the definitive work on the subject for a long time, of interest to both those concerned with the Second World War in the air, and those whose interests lie in its conduct at sea. --Warship
This is an epic two-volume set (1st volume: Eagles Over the Sea 1935-42) that required years of meticulous and dedicated research that ... has no rival. With facts, figures and personal accounts and opinions by participants both German and Allied, the books establish the author as one of the post-war's researchers and writers on a level with Gordon Prange and Walter Lord whose several works on Pearl Harbor and Mid-way have set their own level of expertise for many years. --Naval Aviation News
Eagles Over the Sea 1943-45 provides a focus on maritime aviation that both parallels and is entwined with the Atlantic U-boat war.... Patterson's detailed narrative helps the reader understand the maritime role of the Luftwaffe. It's also a cautionary case study in what happens to an organization where the leadership lacks a unified objective and fails to understand how those goals were to be achieved. Readers with an interest in maritime air operations will find this book of interest. --Armchair General
