Military Model Scene

Title: Night Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe 1940-43
Author: Neil Page and Jean-Louis Roba
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 978-1-63624-490-7

A recent addition to the Casemate Illustrated series. A 128-page soft-cover book.
This one starts out with a Timeline of key events in the story, leading into an Introduction to set the scene. In the early stages of WW2 the German Luftwaffe had little use or need for dedicated night fighter arrangements/units but from about mid-1940 things began to change. RAF bombers began to carry out night raids into Germany itself. This irritated pilots such as Hptm Wolfgang Falke, who was instrumental in forming the early Nachtjager units. It also sets out the arrangement of the main defensive line, centred in Holland, with the main control station at Veulen and a major night fighter base at Venlo, at the heart of the defensive line known as the Kammhuber Line, named after the commander of Germany's night fighter defences. It goes on, detailing the development of the German night fighter defences, the aircraft they used, the weapons and radars they carried, and the tactics of using them in combination with ground based radar, Flak, searchlight batteries, and the 'Warterraum'. Their challenges increased once 'Bomber' Harris increased the number of bombers raiding German targets, and the use of radar, jamming, the use of Window, and Oboe navigation aids all added to the too and fro of technical aids. As well as the basic chronological story there are a lot of individual pilot and aircraft profiles, along with individual stories of events they experienced. As you might expect, lots of archive photos throughout, illustrating the pilots, their aircraft and some of the wrecks of RAF bombers they had brought down.
This covers the first half of the war and while it can be described as the development of the German night-fighter system, the Nachtjager. I think I'd describe it as the evolution of the Nachtjager. Looking at the many photos of the pilots whose stories are included, I found myself thinking they look so much like the pictures of RAF crewmen, but in different uniforms. Sad perhaps looking back, that war makes people fight each other when in reality there is so little to differentiate them other than the fact they are each fighting for their country. An interesting read, and I look forward to seeing the follow up title which will cover the last half of the war.
Thanks to the distributors, Script Books, for the review copy.

Robin