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Title: RED AIR FORCE AT WAR BARBAROSSA AND THE RETREAT TO MOSCOW: Recollections of Soviet Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front (The Red Air Force at War)
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Manufacturer: Pen and Sword Books
List Price: $39.95
Our Price: $25.51
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| Customer Reviews: |
| RED AIR FORCE AT WAR BARBAROSSA AND THE RETREAT TO MOSCOW: Recollections of Soviet Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front (The Red Air Force at War) by Pen and Sword Books Memorable interviews | Artem Drabkin has made a name for himself in doing a variety of interviews with any and all veterans of the Second World War. His site "I Remember" hosted by the larger Russian Battlefield site will keep readers entertained for days on end. One will find everything from infantrymen, to tankers, snipers, signal troops, nurses, and of course air force pilots/navigators, and much more. Drabkin should be commended for his efforts in taking the time to interview these veterans and put on paper all of this because today, as never before, these veterans do not have much time left. The sad reality is that a few of those pilots that were interviewed for this book did not live to see it in print!
As with all veteran accounts I always find something interesting in them, however insignificant it might seem. Almost all of these pilots were shot down at one time or another, a few were taken prisoner. Those who experienced the British Hurricane's hated them and preferred Soviet built fighters. One pilot flew the P-39 Airacobra and loved it, but still considers the Yak to have been better than any fighter provided via Lend Lease. One pilot became good friends with the SMERSH (death to spies, part of the NKVD) officer stationed with his unit, he led a rescue group to find the pilot when he had crashed next to their airfield. Other pilots were captured and escaped captivity, one had to go through a interrogation by the NKVD who said he could go free since he was only a POW for 10 days and escaped back to Soviet lines. Most of these fighter pilots were not aces, they had less than 15 individual kills, but they are what made up the majority of the VVS (Air Force). Descriptions of training, dog fighting, good and bad memories of friends, commanders, and subordinates can be found here as in all military memoirs. One can probably finish this book in a day and, hopefully, have a fresh understanding of what these men had to go through to win the war and survive something that few can even begin to comprehend today. | | RED AIR FORCE AT WAR BARBAROSSA AND THE RETREAT TO MOSCOW: Recollections of Soviet Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front (The Red Air Force at War) by Pen and Sword Books Product Description | | The onset of war in the summer of 1941 was a disaster for the Soviet Air Force. In a few weeks, faced by the onslaught of the Luftwaffe, most of the Soviet frontline aircraft were destroyed, and the casualty rate among the pilots was cripplingly high. Yet the surviving few gained precious battle experience and they formed the core of the fighter force that turned the tables on the Germans and eventually won air superiority over the Eastern Front. Many of these Soviet pilots are still alive today and in this book they vividly recall the air battles of 60 years ago. |
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