Osprey Publishing

by Len "Viking1" Hjalmarson

Article Type: Magazine / Journal Review
Article Date: May 06, 2002

A Vast Catalog of Titles

Osprey Publishing is a diverse company with a focus on military history. To that end they publish a huge line of books as well as a Military Journal. In this article we look at two volumes plus the first Journal issue of 2002.

Osprey's publications are organized by type: A Campaign series, detailing history's greatest conflicts with titles such as “D-Day 1944” and “Bannockburn: 1314”. They have a Men-at-Arms series with such titles as “The Japanese Army: 1931-45”. Their Warrior series looks at the daily lives of fighting men and women including their training, weaponry and experiences.

The New Vanguard series looks at the design, development, operation and history of the machinery of warfare through the ages. Some of the titles of interest to military aviation fans include #46: 88mm Flak and PaK 43: 1936-45.

I can’t tell from the catalog exactly how many volumes Osprey publish, but it must exceed one thousand.

The series of greatest interest to combat simulation fans are the Aviation Elite series and the Aircraft of the Aces series. Osprey sent me one of each as a sample. The two volumes I received are “Jagdegeschwader 54” by John Weal, and “Bf 109 Aces of the Russian Front” by John Weal. The former volume is 128 pages in length, and the latter volume 96 pages. Let’s begin by looking at “Bf 109 Aces”.

“Bf 109 Aces of the Russian Front”

The volume is organized by the march of history, beginning with Barbarossa, moving through Zitadelle and Stalingrad, and concluding with Fighting Retreat. The balance of text and photographs is almost perfect. The photos are exclusively black and white and vary from an illustrative 1.5” by 4” up to half-page images. The volume itself measures 7” by 9 ¾”.

In the center of the book are color plates. The plates are Bf 109 aircraft in side profile, with authentic paint schemes and markings used by various Luftwaffe aces. The profiles are four to a page, so the images themselves are six inches in length. Each profile is numbered with a short description that includes the name of the ace, his unit, and the date the aircraft was flown. At the end of the volume the plates are described in detail.

Color Plate from the volume

For example, the third on this page is listed as the mount of Gunther Rall, Staffelkapitan 8./JG52, Gostanovka, August, 1942. The description at the back of the volume notes that when Rall flew Black 13 he had only 36 kills. Rall returned to the command of 8 Staffel in August of 1942.

One of the things I enjoy about the Osprey volumes is that the images show pilots and aircraft in a great variety of situations: both at “work” and at play. Aircraft are shown with various types of damage, or under maintenance or even stuck in the mud. And the air-crew are not neglected.
The narrative history is quite good. While not as detailed as a longer volume, essential movements, engagements, victories and losses are noted, while more personal notations are salted throughout the narrative.

The final chapter of “Bf 109 Aces” begins as follows:

The Fuhrer’s abrupt abandonment of Zitadelle set the scene for the closing chapter in the story of the Bf 109 on the estern front. In the months that followed, the component Gruppes of JG 51 would be constantly on the move. As the Red Army grew in strength and gathered momentum in its drive toward Germany, they found themselves being shuffled from one point of danger to the next with increasing frequency and desperation. JG52s nomadic existence commenced within days of the Jursk offensive’s being called off, with I. Gruppe transferring from Polatava to Kharkov-South, and III. Gruppe moving to Orel on the northern flank of the “bulge.” But after just five days at Oren III./JG52 returned soutwards. It was not that Leutnant Erich Hartmann’s extraordinary abilities began to reveal themselves.

The last of four Soviet fighters claimed on August 3 gave Hartmann his half-century (fifty kills). Weal goes on to tally Hartmann’s daily kills in the Kharkov area, and then his promotion to Staffelkapitan of 9./JG52 on the 29th of August.

Some readers will find the detailed indices that close the volume worth the price of the book. First are two pages listing all pilots on the eastern front with more than 100 kills. Next are representative Orders of Battle of Bf 109s on the front. These are organized into sections by date, beginning in June, 1941 and through to April, 1945. Finally, a selected bibliography and index complete the volume.

Jagdegeschwader 54

This volume, #6 in the Series, is also organized by the timeline. The story commences with pre-war background and then the Polish campaign. The battle for France closes the first chapter.

The second chapter details the Battle of Britain, the Balkan Interlude makes up chapter 3, and chapter 4 details the Greenhearts in Russia. Chapter 5 details JG54 against the west, and chapter 6 details the formation of IV/JG54 on the eastern front in July, 1943. The volume closes with appendices.

Of the formation of IV/JG54 Weal comments,

To recompense for the non-return of III./JG54 from the west, von Bonin had been given a new Gruppe to add to his line-up in Russia. IV./JG54 was activated from scratch on Bf109Gs at Jesau in East Prussia , the original home of III. Gruppe, during July, 1943. It was headed by Haputmann Erich Rudorffer, a 74 victory Experte and Knight’s Cross wearer from JG2. On 22 July, while IV Gruppe was still busy working up, yet another Soviet offensive was launched against the Leningrad front. Its objective was to push German forces even farther back from the city. As the only Luftwaffe fighters in the area, Stab and II./JG54’s 30 serviceable Fw 190s were heavily committed.

Like the other volume, the Aviation Elite series includes color plates in the center, this time totaling forty-four aircraft including both 109s and 190s. Unlike the Aces series, this Aviation Elite volume includes additional color plates of Jagdegeschwader heraldry. Two pages of unit badges in full color are beautifully displayed.

B&W photo from the volume

The volume itself shows a similar concern to balance images and narrative, and John Weal offers the same attention to detail. He places JG54 carefully in the history of the Luftwaffe, and also in the broader history of the conflict that was playing out on the pages of history.

While John Weal’s history is not so finely detailed as a 300-page paperback would be, he achieves a nice flow and the story is carried by both text and images. I particularly like the magazine style layout, with sidebars that include images and text descriptions of the photo in question.

Of the famous Walter Nowotny, Weal reports,

In the month of September, Nowotny’s rise was meteoric. On the first of the month he claimed ten kills (the second time in his career that he had been credited with ten in one day), whichtook his overlal tally to 183. Seventy-two hours later that figure had risen to 189, and Walter finally won his long-awaited Oak Leaves. Eleven more victories over the next four days gave him his double century on 8 September. And exactly one week later, on 15 September, Nowotny’s total of 215 made him the then highest scoring pilot in the entire Luftwaffe. (P. 102)

Both of these volumes taught me more about the Luftwaffe and its aircraft and pilots. I would be hard pressed to recommend one over the other, and I am likely to add other volumes to my collection.

Cover of Osprey title

Thankfully, Osprey has numerous other titles that will fascinate the combat simulation fan. The Aces series includes such titles as “Bf 109 Aces of the Mediterranean and North Africa” and “Focke-Wulf Aces of the Western Front.” Volumes on Allied aces and Japanese and French aces are similarly available. (Osprey also has a Combat Aircraft series which includes such notables as the P-61 Black Widow, The mosquito and various bombers such as the B-26 and B-17).

Osprey Military Journal

The Osprey Military Journal

The Military Journal is published six times per year and averages 65 pages. Topics span all of history.

Volume 4, Issue 1 lists these features:

• “Ostheer: January – July 1943”
  
• “Bungo and the Byng Boys (The Canadians at Vimy Ridge)”
  
• “The Battle of Grunwald, 1410”
  
• “The Miracle at Myongyang”
  
• “Japanese Suicide Boats at Okinawa”

Of these the most interesting to me was the first, “Ostheer: January - July 1943”. Authored by Dr. Steven Hart, the article detailed the defensive recovery and offensive disaster of the German struggle on the Eastern Front. Use of maps was particularly good, and the eight page article provided me with some of the best information I have yet found on Operation Citadelle.

Individual issues of the Journal are $7.50 US. A subscription is $39.95 in the US and Canada.



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