publishers blurb
" It may seem surprising in the context of a unit history to cover just a single Gruppe. However, III./ZG 26 - which started WW II as a Bf 109 unit - was 'detached' early on from its parent Geschwader and fought a very 'independent' war. Having received twin-engine Bf 110s during the Phoney War, the unit was largely deployed in the West and over England during 1940. Rested at the end of 1940, like all Zerstörer Gruppen, III./ZG 26 was sent to the Mediterranean in early 1941, where the unit's heavy fighters mainly supported the advance of the Afrika Korps while escorting shipping supplying the German Army in Africa. The Bf 110s also served as 'ad-hoc' transports ferrying in fuel in their 900 ltr drop tanks to be pumped out into jerry cans. In 1943, after the fall of Tunisia and facing the numerical superiority of the Allied air forces, III./ZG 26 returned to Germany and equipped with heavy weapons - including BR 21 rocket grenade launchers - was thrown into the bloody combats above the Reich. The Bf 110s were decimated and the unit was dissolved in mid-1944..."
Reader's review
".. a war diary of a unique Luftwaffe unit, III./26 saw action action from 1939 to 1944, when it was disbanded for lack of personnel, decimated above the dying Reich, its ME-110s by then obsolescent and out-classed by Allied long-range escort fighters. The talented (the word is weak when you know the talent of the author! ) Jean-Louis Roba has reconstructed, page by page and virtually day by day, the glory days and dark hours of a very special unit that flew for 90% of its time on an aircraft that was innovative and elegant but under-powered and under-equipped, which in no way detracted from the courage of its crews and technical personnel. On the contrary, because they were called upon to fight on almost every front. This is an excellent reference work, lavishly illustrated with a number of colour photos and written with great rigour. A book for enthusiasts of Second World War air history, but also for model makers eager to find new subjects .."
A 176-page book with 380 photos and 28 color profiles. French text. A 15-page pdf extract is available to view on the Lela Presse web site here
Also on this blog; The "Luchy" trial - III./ZG 26 pilot murder