Wolfram von Richthofen - Biography

[Steve P]

'Wolfram von Richthofen: Master of the German Air War' by James S. Corum is an extremely detailed and objective analysis of the brilliant yet IMO underrated cousin of the WWI ace of aces...This is quite an intense read but well worthwhile and fills a gap in the literature on tactical air command in the Luftwaffe which is often overlooked in favour of operational command investigation of the Wehrmacht ground force commanders...A fascinating look at arguably the ablest air commander of the Luftwaffe's five Generalfeldmarschall's...Particularly interesting is the discussion of Richthofen's highly successful operational command partnership with Manstein in Russia which explores both general's joint/combined operations acumen.

[Steve P]

Cover

[Robert Shoaf]

I own this book, and have reviewed in on Amazon.com. I must say that I was disappointed; it really wasn't much of a biography after the war began, and the details of his service in the war were sorely lacking, IMHO. Good info on his early life,and WWI service, but , to me, far too vague afterwards, for a biography. I never got a true sense of the man beneath the uniform.
Again, just my opinion.

Bob Shoaf

[JG 51]

Like I said, next book in line

[Steve P]

I own this book, and have reviewed in on Amazon.com. I must say that I was disappointed; it really wasn't much of a biography after the war began, and the details of his service in the war were sorely lacking, IMHO. Good info on his early life,and WWI service, but , to me, far too vague afterwards, for a biography. I never got a true sense of the man beneath the uniform.
Again, just my opinion.

Bob Shoaf

Fair Points...but that is in itself interesting...I think the man was very hard to get a bead on as he was such a Juncker! But, I liked it and do think from the sources (the family letters and the diary) that you do get a sense of the man...It just happens that he's quite self contained and played his hand very close to his chest for the most part...A Total Professional during Total War, with the exception of his early life!