This is the third volume in this series on Soviet air power in the Baltic countries that were taken over in 1939/40. The series concentrates on the Baltics, but brings up the endemic issues that were rampant within the Soviet air force. Much of this was caused by the widespread purging of the officer corps where most of those with competence were either forced out, jailed, or killed. Add to it the lack of competence in manufacturing, logistics, and leadership and you have a perfect storm, something that took the Soviet Union quite a while to overcome.

This volume highlights the Luftwaffe during this time. Unlike the Soviets, the Germans were already battle tested and pretty well knew what worked and what did not. One of the things the Luftwaffe was quite good doing was strategic reconnaissance. In fact, in the weeks leading up to the start of the invasion, the Luftwaffe sent dozens of flights over Soviet territory to photograph defenses including air fields. This latter concentration was to see what was there so that attacks could properly target places that would provide them with the greatest return for their efforts. Unfortunately for the Soviets, none of the aircraft in the inventory were able to catch the German recce planes. So when the first hours of the invasion occurred, Soviet airfields were hit quite hard with much of their forces destroyed or heavily damaged on the ground. Very few Soviet airmen were able to get into the air and even fewer modern fighters due to a lack of serviceability (as in waiting for critical spares to affect repairs).

This edition covers the German preliminaries as well as the first hours of the invasion. It provides a fairly complete look at the German attacks as well as the Soviet attempts at defense. Much of this information comes from personal and unit log books that have survived in various archives, so we get a rather complete look at the situation at the time. As with the previous volumes, there is a short biography of every commander of the units involved, much of it from the German side as the Soviet commanders were mostly covered in the previouis volumes. Add into this many excellent period photos, charts, and color profiles and you get an exceptionally well researched book on a subject that is fairly unknown to most of us. There is at least one more volume scheduled after this and I look forward to it. Well worth picking up.

October 2026

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