In June 1941 Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia and the defining moment of World War 2. Unrestricted total war was released onto a massive area of central and Eastern Europe. On the ground and in the air the massive forces of Germany and the Soviet Union fought out opic battles that stretched as far east as Moscow and Stalingrad before the inexorable strength of the Soviet forces gradually forced the Axis armies to retreat westwards to Berlin and beyond. Historians have made us familiar with the period's great land battles, for example, Starlingrad, Kursk and Leningrad. What is less familiar, however, is the tale of the evolving aerial strategies adopted by the Luftwaffe and the Russians. Initially outclassed and outperformed by the might of the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front, Soviet equipment and tactics improved immeasurably during the war, thereby helping to negate the potency of the Luftwaffe in the various theatres. Drawing upon his knowledge as a professional pilot and on detailed researches, Andrew Brookes examines the history of the aerial war on the Eastern Front.Covering the war chronologically, the author initially examines the strategic balance before analysing the role of the Luftwaffe in the first phase of Barbarossa, with the Germans again adopting their Blitzkrieg tactics. Subsequent chapters record the changing strategic balance as the Russians employ more potent aircraft, including many supplied through the Arctic convoys by Britain and the USA, as the tide of war turned against the Germans. Supplementing the author's well-researched and authoritative text are over 160 mono illustrations including line drawings and contemporary photographs.

The German Kursk offensive, or Operation Zitadelle, was launched on 4th July 1943. However a resolute Soviet defence ensured that the Germans failed to make their planned breakthrough and after three weeks, defence was turned to assault. The author looks at this momentous air conflict.

The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions. During World War II the Red Air Force formed three all-female units-grouped into separate fighter, dive bomber, and night bomber regiments-while also recruiting other women to fly with mostly male units. Their amazing story, fully recounted for the first time by Reina Pennington, honors a group of fearless and determined women whose exploits have not yet received the recognition they deserve. Pennington chronicles the creation, organization, and leadership of these regiments, as well as the experiences of the pilots, navigators, bomb loaders, mechanics, and others who made up their ranks, all within the context of the Soviet air war on the Eastern Front. These regiments flew a combined total of more than 30,000 combat sorties, produced at least thirty Heroes of the Soviet Union, and included at least two fighter aces. Among their ranks were women like Marina Raskova ("the Soviet Amelia Earhart"), a renowned aviator who persuaded Stalin in 1941 to establish the all-women regiments; the daredevil "night witches" who flew ramshackle biplanes on nocturnal bombing missions over German frontlines; and fighter aces like Liliia Litviak, whose twelve "kills" are largely unknown in the West. She also tells the story of Alexander Gridnev, a fighter pilot twice arrested by the Soviet secret police before he was chosen to command the women's fighter regiment. Pennington draws upon personal interviews and the Soviet archives to detail the recruitment, training, and combat lives of these women. Deftly mixing anecdote with analysis, her work should find a wide readership among scholars and buffs interested in the history of aviation, World War II, or the Russian military, as well as anyone concerned with the contentious debates surrounding military and combat service for women.

Vol.2 contains chronologies of victories by air and ground fire, losses front and rear, and a list of all those men, Russian, Romanian and French who received the coveted St. George Awards. There are also chapters on Russian, Romanian and French orders and medals, as well as maps of the fronts.

 During the first 10 months of the war in the Pacific, Japan achieved air supremacy with its carrier and land-based forces. But after major setbacks at Midway and Guadalcanal, the empire's expansion stalled, in part due to flaws in aircraft design, strategy and command. This book offers a fresh analysis of the air war in the Pacific during the early phases of World War II. Details are included from two expeditions conducted by the author that reveal the location of an American pilot missing in the Philippines since 1942 and clear up a controversial account involving famed Japanese ace Saburo Sakai and U.S. Navy pilot James "Pug" Southerland.

The battles of Khalkhyn Gol was the decisive engagement of the undeclared Soviet-Japanese Border Wars fought between the Soviet Union, Mongolia and the Empire of Japan in 1939. This book looks at the impact and retaliation from the Soviet perspective.