The story of the desperate defense of the Luftwaffe military air force against the increasing aggression of Allied bombers during World War II.

The Reichsverteidigung (Defense of the Reich) was a "do or die" campaign that saw the top pilots of the Luftwaffe attempt to defend German skies from the ever-growing waves of Allied bombers from the RAF and USAAF. Flying aircraft and, ultimately, the first jets to see operational use, the Jagdflieger employed a wide range of weapons and tactics to mitigate the Allied air attack across Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe.

"Defenders of the Reich" focuses on the story of the pilot, their aircraft, their weapons, their exhausting and dangerous missions, and the Luftwaffe's tactics against naval bombers from summer 1942 until Victory in Europe (VE) Day. They fought until their near-total destruction, as USAAF and RAF pilots decimated their ranks in the air and targeted their airfields with devastating attacks.

Leading Luftwaffe historian Robert Forsyth uses German and Allied archival documents combined with interviews with former Jagdwaffe pilots to tell the story of this final air campaign from the Luftwaffe’s perspective.

Pages: 480, Year of Publication: 0303, Dimensions: 15.4x15.4cm