The Red Air Force versus the Luftwaffe in the skies over Eastern Europe.

June 1941: Having conquered most of Western Europe, Adolf Hitler turned his attention to the vast Soviet Union. Disregarding his Non-Aggression Pact with Joseph Stalin, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, a full-scale invasion of the Soviet homeland aimed squarely at Moscow.

In the skies over Russia, the battle-hardened airmen of the Luftwaffe made short work of the Red Air Force during opening days of Barbarossa. To make matters worse, Stalin had executed many of his best pilots during the perennial "purges" of the 1930s. Thus, much of the Red Air Force was destroyed on the ground before meeting the Luftwaffe in the skies. By 1944, however, the Soviet airmen had regained the initiative and fervently wrested air superiority from the now-ailing Axis Powers.

Casemate Publishers brings us, yet again, another wonderful military history text. Air War on the Eastern Front covers the events occurring between 1941-1945 very succinctly, and with historical photographs, maps, color profiles, and text. A few of the photos are in color. The informative text is easy to read, and very obviously well-researched. Beginning with a prelude to war, and ending with the fall of the Reich, key points are examined and explained. Along with the history of the battles, there are included, a few one-page profiles of notable figures and events such as:

• Herman Göring
• Sturzkampfgeschwader 77
• Lydia Litvyak

The Ronny Bar color profiles include:

• Ilyushin Il-2
• Lavochkin La-5
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3
• Bell P-39
• Junkers-Ju-87G
• Messerschmitt Bf-109G
• Focke-Wulf FW-190A-9
• Heinkel He-111

Following each of the color profile pages are in-depth expositions of each aircraft in that respective section. Other aircraft that played a part are also documented through photographs, including:

• Polikarpov I-5
• Morane-Saulnier G monoplane
• Yakovlev UT-1
• Polikarpv I-16
• Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3
• Yakovlev Yak-9DD
• Petlyakov Pe-2 dive bomber
• Tupelov SB bomber
• Focke-Wulf FW-190D-9
• Junkers JU-88
• Dornier DO-17
• Junkers JU-52
• Hawker Hurricane

This book is an absolute wealth of modeling references, especially for those interested in winter camouflage schemes and extreme weathering. This, alone, makes the book worth it’s price. My thanks to Casemate Publishers and IPMS/USA for the review sample.