The Polish Campaign of 1939, which started World War II, has gotten little actual press when it comes to books on the war. In this volume, the actions of one of the two major Luftwaffe commands, Luftflotte I, are detailed. The author starts off with the usual personal recollection of a specific action that seems to be standard with these Kagero books. Then he goes into a lead up of events that triggered war as well as a brief history of the Luftwaffe from its inception.

The rest of the book could easily be entitled 'the invasion of Poland' as it covers the actions of units from the beginning until the end of that particular campaign, both on the German and the Polish side. What is left is a picture of a nation that gave as good as it got, though was ultimately overwhelmed by a much larger and better prepared force.

I found it particularly interesting because the Luftwaffe used aircraft that were shortly removed from combat due to obsolescence. Planes such as the Bf-109D and Bf-110B. There is also considerable space given to the defending Polish AF and the conditions under which they fought. However, piecing this together is not an easy task for the reader; at least not for this one. The English translation leaves a great deal to be desired and seems to have been rushed through. I can overlook the idiosyncrasies of random capitalization of words, and somewhat different syntax that is often found in these books. But this particular volume's translation makes reading it a chore. Personally, I don't know who does the translations as I'm pretty sure it isn't the author. I've read Krzysztof Janowicz's other books in this series and not found this problem. For instance, when describing the bombing of an airfield the translation states "Many buildings got destroyed, the maneuvering area severely devastated." I mean, come on now. "...severely devastated"?? The book is full of sentences similar to that. I think that Kagero would benefit from having someone on staff whose main language is English so that the translations can be smoothed out and made more readable. After all, English does comprise half the book so it is important.

Aside from that, the book is quite interesting and does present information on a segment of the war that is of interest to quite a few modelers. As with all Kagero books, it is card-bound with profiles on the inside and outside of the covers with the rear cover being a fold out. There is also a fold out in the center of the book with additional profiles and color information. The freebie in this 88 page book is a book mark with a pair of RLM colors.

Generally, I'd highly recommend this book, however, you may wish to think twice about it due to the tortured English translation.

Purchased by me.

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