The Final Hours

Nonfiction, History, Military, Aviation, World War II, Biography & Memoir, Historical
Cover of the book The Final Hours by Johannes Steinhoff, Potomac Books Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Johannes Steinhoff ISBN: 9781597974790
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc. Publication: August 31, 2005
Imprint: Potomac Books Inc. Language: English
Author: Johannes Steinhoff
ISBN: 9781597974790
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.
Publication: August 31, 2005
Imprint: Potomac Books Inc.
Language: English
Fighter ace Col. Johannes Steinhoff commanded an elite group of pilots trained to fly the first jet aircraft employed in combat, the famous Messerschmitt Me-262, at a time when Reich Marshal Hermann Goring, by then out of favor with Hitler for his failure to stop the Allied bombing raids, denounced his own pilots as cowards. After Goring refused to deploy the Me-262 as a fighter, the role for which it was designed, and instead ordered its use as a bomber, Steinhoff and other senior air leaders devised a plot to depose Goring from his command of the Luftwaffe in the futile hope of staving off final defeat in the air. The pilots long-standing disgust with their Reich Marshals military incompetence and technical dilettantism led to their dangerous intrigue in the fall of 1944. There was an added element of risk as their desperate gamble came in the wake of the July 20 plot against Hitler, the onrushing Allied onslaught, and the general disintegration of the German military and its war effort.Steinhoff crashed while trying to take off in a heavily laden Me-262. The explosion left him badly burned and still in the hospital when the war ended. From his hospital bed in the summer of 1945, he dictated to a fellow wounded German soldier the account that became The Final Hours. His memories are vivid, painful, and gripping. Free from the years of recrimination and reflection so common in similar works, his tale recounts the pressure of fighting for a lost cause and the intrigue fostered by an unstable command. His account reveals every facet of a remarkable fighter pilots struggle for survival and provides an excellent case study of the plodding bureaucracy and scheming obscurantism so characteristic of the Third Reich.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Fighter ace Col. Johannes Steinhoff commanded an elite group of pilots trained to fly the first jet aircraft employed in combat, the famous Messerschmitt Me-262, at a time when Reich Marshal Hermann Goring, by then out of favor with Hitler for his failure to stop the Allied bombing raids, denounced his own pilots as cowards. After Goring refused to deploy the Me-262 as a fighter, the role for which it was designed, and instead ordered its use as a bomber, Steinhoff and other senior air leaders devised a plot to depose Goring from his command of the Luftwaffe in the futile hope of staving off final defeat in the air. The pilots long-standing disgust with their Reich Marshals military incompetence and technical dilettantism led to their dangerous intrigue in the fall of 1944. There was an added element of risk as their desperate gamble came in the wake of the July 20 plot against Hitler, the onrushing Allied onslaught, and the general disintegration of the German military and its war effort.Steinhoff crashed while trying to take off in a heavily laden Me-262. The explosion left him badly burned and still in the hospital when the war ended. From his hospital bed in the summer of 1945, he dictated to a fellow wounded German soldier the account that became The Final Hours. His memories are vivid, painful, and gripping. Free from the years of recrimination and reflection so common in similar works, his tale recounts the pressure of fighting for a lost cause and the intrigue fostered by an unstable command. His account reveals every facet of a remarkable fighter pilots struggle for survival and provides an excellent case study of the plodding bureaucracy and scheming obscurantism so characteristic of the Third Reich.

More books from Potomac Books Inc.

Cover of the book Virtual Caliphate: Exposing the Islamist State on the Internet by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book The Secrets of Abu Ghraib Revealed: American Soldiers on Trial by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Broadcasts from the Blitz by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Montgomery by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Home Run by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Chained Eagle by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book The Armed Forces Officer by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Sunk in Kula Gulf: The Final Voyage of the USS Helena and the Incredible Story of Her Survivors in World War II by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Clive by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Britannia's Fist: From Civil War to World War—An Alternate History by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Courage and Fear by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Washington & Napoleon by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Intimate Ties, Bitter Struggles by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Wounded Warriors by Johannes Steinhoff
Cover of the book Crucible of Fire: Nineteenth-Century Urban Fires and the Making of the Modern Fire Service by Johannes Steinhoff
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy