When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in mid 1941, the Soviets were caught totally unprepared for the onslaught. It is pretty well documented that the folks in the Kremlin knew something was up, but through a lack of decent communications, that warning was not passed onto the units on the front line. The result was an overwhelming destruction of the Soviet military forces, both on the ground and in the air. In fact, many Soviet aircraft were caught on the ground and if not completely destroyed were damaged or the airfields overrun so quickly as to leave behind literally thousands of aircraft. In some ways, this was a good thing as it forced the Soviets to concentrate on more modern weapons, though it did cause them to continuously retreat on all fronts until the end of the year.

In order to accentuate this overwhelming victory to the folks back home, German photographers were quickly on the scene to record the carnage and the huge mass of damaged, destroyed and left behind equipment on Soviet air fields. That is what makes up the images in this edition of MMP's 'Camera On' series.

The images chosen are first rate and not some fuzzy photo taken on the fly. The book is divided into sections by the type of aircraft in the image starting with the oldest type, the Polikarpov I-15 and ending with something more modern, the Lavochkin LaGG-3. These are all fighters and I predict that future volumes will cover other aircraft types. It all makes for a superb photo book that should find favor with enthusiasts and modelers alike.

April 2025

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