History of Military Aviation

This revealing history explores Hermann Goering’s desperate creation of twenty-two Luftwaffe Field Divisions—air force personnel hastily repurposed as infantry and sent to the Eastern Front with disastrous results. Michael J. Stout delivers the first full account of these ill-fated units, exposing their role in the collapse of Nazi military effectiveness.

In September 1942, with German armies bleeding on the Eastern Front and manpower stretched to the breaking point, Hermann Goering made a fateful gamble. In an act of desperation—and with Hitler’s blessing—he ordered the formation of twenty-two Luftwaffe Field Divisions from the ranks of Germany’s air force. These men had been trained to maintain aircraft, cook meals, file paperwork, or fly bombers—not fight and die in Russia’s frozen tundra. Within three chaotic weeks they were deployed to the Eastern Front, poorly equipped and woefully unprepared. Predictably, their performance was disastrous, with many divisions disintegrating under fire.

While significant to the German war effort and the history of the Luftwaffe, the Luftwaffe Field Divisions have received little analysis from professional historians. Author Michael J. Stout fills this gap by providing a complete history and full analysis of these divisions, examining their creation, training, combat service, and overall contribution to the German war effort. This book offers a new, revealing look at the unraveling of German military power and the growing dysfunction at the heart of the Nazi regime.