Military Model Scene

Title: Barbarossa Victims
Author: Tomasz J. Kopanski
Publisher: MMP Books
ISBN: 978-83-67227-86-5

Luftwaffe Kills in the East Volume 1, number 34 in the Camera On series from MMP Books. An 80-page soft-cover book.
The first of 2 planned volumes on the topic of aircraft wrecks on the Eastern Front, from the opening stages of WW2. This one features the Gloster Gladiator, the Polikarpov I-15, I-15bis, I-153, I-16, the MiG-3, and finally, the LaGG-3 (Lavochkin Gorbunov Gudkov). Large numbers of Russian aircraft fell victims to the Luftwaffe during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 German invasion of Russia. The book is opened with 3 pages of text which explain the background, how the Luftwaffe launched initial attacks on Soviet airfields when Germany launched their invasion on 22 June 1941. Figures are not certain, but around 2,000 Soviet aircraft were destroyed in the first couple of days, and by the end of the year, over 20,000 Soviet aircraft had been destroyed. The photos, clearly taken by the successful German troops, show large number of wrecked machines, many neatly and conveniently lined up on their airfields making for easy targets. By the end of the year, over 20,000 Soviet aircraft had been shot doen in combat or destroyed on the ground. Many of the photos feature German troops posing by the captured aircraft, while others are visrtually skeletons, stripped of their coverings. Others are pretty much intact, simply abandonned, and others do have Luftwaffe aircraft in the background.
An amazing collection of pictures, and this of course is listed as volume 1, so we have at least another to look forward to. This should be of great interest to those fascinated by the war on the Eastern Front, especially the early stages, along with modellers who will enjoy it for colours and markings ideas, as well as airframe detail. The mix of aircraft types, obsolete designs in 1941, mixed with more modern machines, but together as commanders held on to their older equipment as pilots had not been fully trained to fly their newer mounts.
Thanks to the UK distributors, Script Books, for the review copy.

Robin