DFS 230 Combat Glider

Published on
Review Author(s)
Book Author(s)
Neil page
ISBN
978-1-911704263
E-Book ISBN
978-1-911704263
Other Publication Information
Soft Cover; 184 pp; 9.75” x 7.375”
MSRP
$25.99
Company: Mortons Books - Website: Visit Site
Provided by: Casemate Publishers - Website: Visit Site

Morton's Media Group was established in the 19th century and has been producing book-length publications since the early 2000s. The company established a dedicated book division in 2019, and Morton's Books has already earned a reputation for publishing high-quality titles by authors who are true experts in their field. For the best reads on rail, aviation, nostalgia and history, look no further. This book is part of their imprint: Tempest Books address all aspects of aviation history and are covered in authoritative detail. The aviators and aircraft of the Second World War are profiled by our titles alongside more modern fighters, bombers, reconnaissance, and transport aircraft. 'Secret projects' and experimental designs are also an important part of the Tempest Books portfolio. This English-language book, DFS 230 Combat Glider, is authored by Neil Page and was published in May 2025.

Neil Page has a degree in Modern Languages and has lived and worked in Germany. He spent eight years at London Gatwick Airport in flight dispatch with a major European airline. He has translated the unit histories of JG 2, JG 4 and JG 300 and is one of the team behind the successful Luftwaffe Gallery book series. His website, FalkeEins—the Luftwaffe Blog, has garnered over 4 million page views over the last decade. He is the author of Day Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe 1939–42 and 1943–45.

This tome represents the third volume in Tempest Books, Eagles of the Luftwaffe. Volume 1 by Dan Sharp covered the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A, F, and G (2022). Volume 2 in this series covers the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor (2023) by Matthew Willis. Volume 3 sees an increase in the number of pages from 116 in the first two volumes, to 184 pages for the DFS 230. The front cover features a gorgeous illustration of a pair of DFS 230 landings with the dorsal machine gun firing. The rear cover features two black and white photographs and two color photographs that are included within the book in a larger format. I counted 183 period black and white photographs and 10 color period photographs, 2 color maps, and two tables.

Neil Page kicks off with a four-page Introduction before launching into Chapter 1. The DFS 230 glider was born out of the Allies banning military aviation in Germany after World War I, leading to the rise of gliding clubs in Germany. While this did not address military development, it did develop pilots. The German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight [DFS] saw Hans Jacobs design the DFS 230 and achieve its first flight in January 1937. The design was focused on landing on top of a target, delivering nine men [plus the pilot] to one spot, a huge advantage over paratroops. The DFS 230 saw early success as a combat glider in operations at Fort Eben-Emael, the Battle of Crete, and in the rescue of Benito Mussolini [Gran Sasso raid]. The DFS 230 also contributed greatly to re-supply roles for encircled German forces on the Eastern Front. Lending to its utility, it could be towed by a variety of aircraft, including the Junkers 52 trimotor, the Ju 87 Stuka, the Hs 126, Bf 109, Bf 110, and the Heinkel He 111. Communication with the tow-aircraft was facilitated by a cable running along the tow-line. The DFS 230 was designed to have one of the highest glide ratios of any World War II glider [the other was the Russian Antonov A-7]. This allowed the DFS 230 to fly silently onto its target. Over 1,600 DFS 230 gliders were built and saw service in the war from the beginning to the end.

The prototype DFS 230 V1 saw aviation celebrity Hanna Reitsch’s involvement. She can be seen at the top of Page 15 in a DFS Stummel-Habicht [Stumpy Hawk] glider that was used to train pilots for the Messerschmidt Me 163 Komet. The major change was in the wingspan from 46' to 26’ for the ‘F’ model [or 20’ for the ‘G’ model] to mimic the Me 163 handling characteristics. The bottom of the page shows a good view of the DFS 230 V1 [D-5-289] glider’s rounded nose and one-piece canopy. Three period photographs of the DFS 230 V1 are included along with a rare photograph of the DFS 230 V2. The DFS 230 V2 was interesting as it omitted the fuselage windows. The interior of the DFS 230 was quite narrow, and this is depicted in the top photograph on Page 56. There was little room to sit down, especially considering the equipment that was carried. The top of the photograph shows the roof opening right behind the pilot where the gunner would man the MG 15 machine gun as the plane landed. The tubular steel frame can be seen on either side of the seats. The bottom photograph shows off the rockets mounted in the nose of the DFS 230 C-1 that were used to improve the braking capability on landing. Note the muzzle flash guard on the left side of the picture for the MG 34 that was strapped to the right side of the fuselage. As the DFS 230 engaged on the Eastern front, various winter camouflage schemes were applied.

The top photograph on Page 105 shows a DF 230 at Smolensk, Russia, on the Dnipro River in a light whitewash. The bottom picture depicts a DFS 230 at Dorpat, Estonia [now known as Tartu, the second-largest city in Estonia] with irregular white stripes over the basic camouflage. Note the rear door on the fuselage side that is cracked open. A nice closeup of the DFS 230 nose is shown on Page 136. This DFS 230 of 12./LLG 1 participated in the rescue of Benito Mussolini at Gran Sasso as part of Unternehmen Eiche [Operation Oak] on September 12, 1943. If you look close, you can spy barbed wire that was wrapped around the nose landing skid that provided additional braking power. One result of the mission to deliver supplies to encircled defenders at Budapest left DFS 230 H4-2-6 of Staffel z.b.V. Reich adorned on the side of a building. These one-way flights to provide supplies faced tremendous defensive effort from the Red Army, forcing night flights. The Russians fully expected the incoming gliders and would duplicate landing zone lighting. Records are conflicting, but this either happened on February 4, 1945, with Georg-Adolf Schmall as the pilot or on January 30, 1945, with Ofw Georg Filius piloting. The sections include:

  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: Gliding and the Origins of the DFS 230
    • Into Service with the Luftwaffe [Page 015]
  • Chapter 2: Blitzkrieg in the West! Ében-Émael and the Albert Canal Bridges
    • The Attack
    • The Bridge at Vroenhoven
    • Veldwezelt
    • Canne
    • Ében-Émael DFS 230 Pilots
    • Pilot Profile – Wilhelm Fulda
    • Pilot Profile – Rudolf ‘Rudi’ Opitz
  • Chapter 3: Luftlandegeschawder 1 and ‘Sea Lion’ Preparations
    • Sea Lion
    • The DFS 230
    • Production
    • Armament [Page 056]
  • Chapter 4: ‘Marita’ and ‘Merkur’
    • Corinth
    • (11) Einsatz Kreta – ‘Merkur’
    • Operation Mercury Losses
  • Chapter 5: The DFS 230 in Action on the Eastern Front
    • In-Depth Reorganization
    • Glider Staffel [Table]
  • Chapter 6: Special ‘Ops’ in North Africa
    • Sonderkommando Dora
    • In Tunisia
  • Chapter 7: The ‘Kessel’ Battles and the Kuban [Page 105]
    • Stalingrad
    • Supplying the Kuban Bridgehead
    • The Luftwaffe Kommando Don
  • Chapter 8: Late 1943 – Back to France and Italy
  • Chapter 9: Operation Eiche – Gran Sasso and the Rescue of Mussolini [Page 136]
  • Chapter 10: Operation ‘Rösselsprung’ – Knights Move Against Tito
  • Chapter 11: Vercors – With KG 200 Against the French Resistance
  • Chapter 12: One-Way Flights to Hell – Budapest, Breslau and Berlin
  • Budapest [Page 161]
  • Breslau
  • Berlin
  • Afterword
  • The DFS 331
  • Index

Model kit wise, kits are available in 1/35, 1/48, 1/56, 1/72, 1/87, 1/100, and 1/144. The Bronco 1/35 DFS 230 B-1 was released in 2018 and is still available at the retail level. Special Hobby was the last one to release a DFS 230 in 1/48 scale, but you will be hunting the secondary market. It was released in 2003 as a DFS 230 A in German service, and in 2009 as a DFS 230C in Romanian service. Bronco released a 1/72 DFS 230 V-6 [with a deceleration rocket] in 2017 and a DFS 230 B-1 in 2016, but both are getting hard to find. RS Model released a new tool multimedia kit on 1/72 in 2015 that seems to be still in stock at the retail level.

I believe this is the first English language monograph on the DFS 230. There is a German paperback from 1970 by Karl Rudolf Pawlas that ran 143 pages, but even this 2025 edition is at 184 pages. It has been covered in a few other books on German gliders as well as gliders in general. I enjoyed reading this book over three nights with the many first-person accounts that have been translated to English, keeping my attention. I was really impressed with the many period photographs that supported the mission accounts from the start to the end of World War 2. This is a must-have book for the aviation historian and modeler.

My thanks to Casemate, Tempest Books, Morton's Books, and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.

Highly recommended!

front cover

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