118 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 21
Phoenix — A Complete History of the
Luftwaffe 1918–1945, Volume 1: The
Phoenix is Reborn 1918–1934
By Richard Meredith; Helion & Company, available from
Casemate (www.casematepublishing.co.uk); 7in x 9½in
(175mm x 241mm); hardback; 650 pages; illustrated;
£49.95. ISBN 978-1-910294-50-5
THE BULK OF the historiography on Nazi
Germany’s Luftwaffe is weighted, perhaps
unsurprisingly, in favour of the Second
World War years. Studies abound, to ever-
increasing levels of detail and specialism, on the
Luftwaffe’s aircraft, units, pilots, campaigns,
camouflage, markings, weaponry, radar and
even undercarriages. Invariably, these books are
set against the dramatic backdrops of the heady
years of Blitzkrieg, the colossal slugging matches
of the Eastern Front or the desperate aerial
defence of the Reich when some of the most
impressive technology, albeit in limited quantity,
was pitted against the Allied air forces. The
desire for such information seems limitless.
By comparison, literature on how this initially
mighty, but ultimately doomed, force came
into being in the aftermath of the “war to end
all wars” and Imperial Germany’s defeat,
constrained by the shackles of Versailles, is
much scarcer. This is perhaps attributable to the
sheer magnitude of the task facing a writer. The
period from 1919 to 1935, with its conflicting
and extreme internal national politics, the
complexities of Weimar, the “hidden” Reichswehr,
the difficult path of rebuilding industry and
the economy, the rise of Hitler and subsequent
rearmament, all influenced and affected inter-
war German aviation. But it is these very factors
that make the swift and generally overlooked
pre-war formation of the Luftwaffe such a
remarkable story.
Richard Meredith has been brave enough to
tackle the subject, and not with a broad brush.
Here is a work of magnitude and scope which
demonstrates the author’s rigorous steps to
synthesise the historiography, as well as his
understanding of the changing infrastructure,
external dynamics, technology and personalities
which shaped the force. This first volume
examines the early covert measures taken by
von Seeckt and Wilberg to re-establish an air
arm, of a kind, in the years after the First World
War; the forging of relations with Russia (which
were never comfortable), both fiscal and in
terms of facilities for training; the military and
naval production programmes of the 1920s and
the building of a Flak arm. He also covers the
development of aviation from 1933 onwards, and
its control and expansion by the Nazis, especially
through the dogmatic drive of Goering and the
energy of Milch, despite conflict between these
two individuals and the prevailing economic
depression. There is welcome detail on how the
Reichsluftfahrtministerium was built up, and the
personalities and functions of its administrative,
personnel and technical departments, all of
which played crucial roles in building what
became, from 1935, the Luftwaffe.
Readers should be aware that to write this
book, the author has drawn on a vast range
of secondary sources and this is made very
transparent in the copious footnotes. When
a primary source is mentioned, mostly it is
attributed to the secondary source in which it is
contained. However, what can not be doubted is
the author’s encyclopædic knowledge of those
secondary sources and their relevance.
The narrative text is supplemented by
many charts and tables detailing ministerial
and command structures, aircraft types and
production programmes. There are also just
short of 100 fascinating and varied photographs
with very detailed captions as well as a useful
bibliography. The book is well produced and
presented with a handsome dustjacket.
To attempt what is billed as a “complete
history” of the Luftwaffe is ambitious. So far, two
further volumes of Phoenix are in preparation,ARMCHAIR
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