This continues the previous work on the subject and picks up the story in 1941 after the debacle of the Battle of Britain. The use of the Bf-110 (and that is basically all that was used in these units) in the events in the Balkans, where they were fairly successful and the early war in the North African desert is chronicled. Here the 110 was up against aircraft where it could hold its own and the units were able to successfully perform their missions.

Then it was on to Russia, where again, the 110 was up against opponents that it was able to defeat. With the war against Russia in full swing, units were sent to Norway where they were able to perform escort missions for shipping and bombers attacking the northern Soviet bases. This was very much a static war in this area so these units did not have to be constantly on the move as they were in Russia or North Africa.

By the time 1942 was nearing the end, it was obvious that the 110 was past its prime. It was often unable to properly fulfill its missions due to the improvement in Allied fighters. This was especially true in North Africa where the Luftwaffe followed the Afrika Korps from one defeat to another back across the desert until early 1943 when they had to pull back to Sicily and then to mainland Italy itself.

The improved 110F and 110G aircraft only slightly improved things. Though the 110 was turning into an effective ground attack and tactical reconnaissance aircraft, it needed to be escorted. In the West, units were fitted with a wide array of under wing/fuselage weaponry and sent up to do battle with USAAF bombers. There were successes, but there were also a lot of aircraft lost; especially when the defending fighters were able to get to them.

Eventually all the Zerstörer units were converted into regular fighter units and so by the final year of the war, the history of these aircraft just melted away. I should also mention that once a unit was no longer 'ZG' and switched to 'JG', the book makes no more mention of it. There is likewise no photo coverage of the Me-210/410), though there is some mention of the 210's initial ops. I can only assume that these aircraft will be covered under a ground attack series.

As with all books in this series, it is crammed with period photos of the pilots and their aircraft. One has the usual 'I was there' stories to spice things up as well as a diary format that gives the general feel of daily operations. Ably illustrated by Fernando Estanislau, the profiles are taken directly from images that appear in the book. This is a real boon to modelers who always like to see the inspirations for artwork.

Classic Books is renown for their Luftwaffe histories and this book just adds to that list of accomplishments. It is a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading and can highly recommend it to you.

July 2006

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