Stout, Michael J.: Goering's Ground Troops

This work examines Hermann Görings desperate initiative to raise twenty-two Luftwaffe Field Divisionsunits for which Luftwaffe personnel were hastily retrained as infantry and sent to the Eastern Front, with disastrous consequences. Michael J. Stout provides the first comprehensive account of these ill-fated formations and highlights the role they played in the collapse of the Nazi regimes military effectiveness. In September 1942, as German armies on the Eastern Front suffered heavy losses and manpower reserves were stretched to the breaking point, Hermann Göring embarked on a fateful gamble. In an act of desperationand with Hitlers approvalhe ordered the creation of twenty-two Luftwaffe Field Divisions drawn from Luftwaffe ranks. These men had been trained for tasks such as aircraft maintenance, logistics, clerical work, or flying bombersnot for fighting and dying in the frozen Russian tundra. Within just three chaotic weeks, they were deployed to the Eastern Frontpoorly equipped and woefully unprepared. Predictably, their performance was catastrophic; many divisions disintegrated under enemy fire. Despite their significance to the German war effort and the history of the Luftwaffe, the Luftwaffe Field Divisions have received little scholarly attention to date. Author Michael J. Stout fills this gap with a comprehensive history and analysis of these divisions, examining their formation, training, combat operations, and overall contribution to the German war effort. The book offers a fresh, illuminating perspective on the disintegration of German military power and the growing dysfunction within the Nazi regimes leadership.