Goering's Grenadiers: The Luftwaffe Field Divisions, 1942-1945

Rating:
Summary: Great info on some relatively unknown units
Review: Antonio Munoz's work on Goering's ground troops is fascinating, simply put.

While Fatso Goering was well-known for his experience as an ace in World War I, as well as his mismanagement of the Luftwaffe, the contributions of the man to the Wehrmacht in the form of varied coastal defense, infantry, and even a panzer division notable for its battle prowess is little discussed.

Mr. Munoz often ventures into the realm of unorthodox units in the Wehrmacht, and each time he does it right. I'd also recommend his first large work, Forgotten Legions: Obscure Formations of the Waffen-SS. His website has a big list of stuff he and others have produced, and it has been my pleasure to know Tony for over a decade. Go to www.axiseuropa.com and check out his site.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre book on a little researched subject
Review: I was expecting a lot more from this relatively expensive book, with its count of over 300 pages. Instead I found out that Munoz has all but skipped doing any primary researches, and apparently the services of an editor is not deemed necessary. So what we have is a book full of typographical errors, lousy maps, and verbose, redundant observations (which proved to be true and obvious) that the Luftwaffen Felddivisionen was a waste of precious manpower and a futile vanity play of Göring.

What the author has missed, in his mouthing of the post war spin by the Heer that the excess Lutwaffe personnel should better be turned over for rebuilding/replenishing the Heer divisions after Stalingrad, is the fact that while, despite the opposition and discrimination by the Wehrmacht, the Waffen SS managed to build a formidable force with mostly Volksdeutche conscripts (who were supposed to be of inferior quality to the Reichdeutsche), the Luftwaffen Felddivisionen, consisted mostly of better educated, top drawer Reichdeutsche, were abject failures, even after being incorporated into the Heer in November 43.

And the gross stupidity of the Heer, after taking over the divisions as Felddivisionen (L.), in going for a 3 regiment (of 2 battailon each) organizational structure (instead of the existing, understrength 2 regiment x 3 battailon each) when it knew that the major defects of the LFD were a shortage of qualified field officers (this applies also to the regular Heer divisions) never crosses Munoz's mind, himself totally engrossed by the post war crap spinned by the few German authors who wrote on the
subject.

The crux of the matter was that not only should the LFD never be built, but that the valuable manpower should be alloted to the Waffen SS, which has proven to be much more capable, without the help of the Heer, in building an elite fighting force, even with much poorer human material, than the hidebound Heer could ever iamgine.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing research on fascinating warriors
Review: This is the tragic story of how 200 000 smart and often technically gifted soldiers were squandered by the incompetence, or rather: the policies, of Goering and Hitler. Yes, as many as 200 000 men served in the almost unknown Luftwaffe field divisions, set up because Goering couldn't imagine handing over his surplus men to the army, badly in need of manpower.

What you get is 380 fact-filled pages with an unusual high amount of tactical maps, several good photos never before published and some facsimile documents. The text is to a great extent based on ground-breaking research in archives by the author himself.

Of greatest interest for armor buffs like yours truly is the photo of a TK-3 tankette pulling a 37 mm PaK in Norway 1943. Amazing!

The book is nicely bound and as far as the textual info and the research behind is concerned I'd give this book five stars. There is no question that it is a must for any serious student of the Luftwaffe ground units. I only wish there'd been more photos and personal accounts. Perhaps a follow-up will come with more photos and info on the vehicles, uniforms and with some small-scale accounts? Hopefully the author will one day produce such a book.

Finally, its pretty amazing to again learn how Hitler could meddle in small details like moving the 12th LW FeldDiv. As CINC he should have stuck to strategy. No, I correct myself - he should never have left Vienna!