Excellent text highlighted by well placed photos throughout the book. Very complete documentation of pre and post Luftwaffe service by these extraordinary aviators. The outstanding aircraft profile artwork is a bonus to modelers. This book is a fine addition to any WWII historian's library.

I enjoyed reading this book which surprised me after reading some of the excerpts I saw on line. If your interested in JG52 of the Luftwaffe this is a book to have. I found it to have as much of the excitment as I found in the book " The War Diary of Helmut Lipfert". It gave a balanced view point from both the German side and the Russian side which made it like being a part of the story. It also busted some of the false myths about Herman Graf, also showed both pilots to be very decent men. It was well worth the money. There is a few grammar problems which was a translation problem or editing problem (very minor) but it's the story that is important and enjoyable.

I enjoyed reading this book which surprised me after reading some of the excerpts I saw on line. If your interested in JG52 of the Luftwaffe this is a book to have. I found it to have as much of the excitment as I found in the book " The War Diary of Helmut Lipfert". It gave a balanced view point from both the German side and the Russian side which made it like being a part of the story. It also busted some of the false myths about Herman Graf, also showed both pilots to be very decent men. It was well worth the money. There is a few grammar problems which was a translation problem or editing problem (very minor) but it's the story that is important and enjoyable.

This is a quality book, from beginning to end. An interesting feature of this book is that the author has taken great pains to identify the foes who Graf and Grislawski flew against, both on the Eastern and Western front. This gives us the opportunity to see what an opponent thought and experienced during an encounter against these aces. The author has also checked the official records of the Luftwaffe and Allied air forces in order to confirm that an opponent claimed shot down was actually shot down. (Not surprisingly for me, it seems that about half the time, claims for kills are exaggerated by 50% for both sides.) Through such research, he is also able to identify that aircraft from the 354th FG and 4th FG were responsible for 2 incidents of 'chute-shooting'. And that Grislawski and Hub Zemke from the 56th FG dueled each other later in the war.

Being a historian, the author has also takes pains to describe the big picture, be it a German offensive, or an 8th AF attempt to cripple German synthetic oil production, in conjunction with the specific activities these aces' air units were engaged in during a given period. Thus, for example, when 7/JG52 transfers to Kerch, we know why, and the excellent map provided with the book lets us pinpoint where.

The book has quality (shiny) paper, which allows photos to be printed on any page (some are even in color). In fact, this book and Hermann Buchner's 'Stormbird' are much alike in terms of features and quality. The only negative I found with this book is the writing, which I rate as mediocre, primarily because the author, whose native tongue is not English (I hope), bungles common expressions here and there. For example, instead of writing 'his predication came true', Bergstrom writes 'his predicament came true'. Regardless, this book rates a 5.