WGSM: Junkers Ju87 Over the Mediterranean (Osprey)

[Dark Horse]

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Book Title:

Junkers Ju87 Over the Mediterranean

Author:

John Weal

ISBN:

84 8372 208 9

Category:

Reference

Format:

Paperback

Summary:

This book covers the withdrawal of Ju87s from Northern France to Sicily following their pretty dismal involvement in the Battle of Britain, through the battles for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete; to their eventual withdrawal away to the Eastern Front. I particularly bought the book for its chapter on the Stuka in Italian hands – renamed Picchiatello which the author translates as “slightly crazy”. They were acquired to replace the less than successful twin engined torpedo plane SM.85 (the flying banana). Being a gamer in 1/144 rather than 1/200, I intend to paint several of my “Airforce Surplus“ Stukas as Picciatelli. For this task, the book gives me a chapter plus 5 colour profiles so I am pretty happy with that.

Overall there are 22 colour profiles of Stukas, in a good variety of war-paint operating from Libya, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy etc. and 2 pictures of the uniforms of German and Italian aircrew. There are also a good number of B&W photographs, many of pretty good quality. My main complaint with the book is that I think it must have been edited by a chimpanzee – there are too many typos which had me scratching my head, from unfinished sentences, unfinished words and misspellings. For example, at one point in the book GHQ Cairo is called “Cair” and Albania becomes “Alabnai”. To me this does smack a bit of a lack of professionalism – we are talking modern word-processing after all.

One point I do look for in these Osprey books is a good description of combats, with a focus on the more unconventional or unexpected ones if possible. There are good descriptions of the attack formations/tactics used against British and Greek shipping and not being all that familiar with this theatre of action, I was a bit surprised at the sheer amount of damage and sinkings these Stukas caused.

One interesting confrontation occurred in October 1943, when about 2 dozen Ju 85 “Doras” attacked British shipping, sinking the destroyer "Panther" and crippling the Anti-Aircraft cruiser "Carlisle" (the AA crews must have been having a very bad day to get themselves badly bombed without apparently hitting anything in return…). In the middle of all this a formation of US P-38 Lightnings attacked the Stukas, claiming they downed 16 Ju 87s (although apparently it was actually 8 that did not reurn to base). Still a pretty good shooting record and once again confirming that these obsolete aircraft were not any good when operating unaccompanied by modern fighter support.

[Marechallannes]

..., sinking the destroyer "Panther" and crippling the Anti-Aircraft cruiser "Carlisle" (the AA crews must have been having a very bad day to get themselves badly bombed without apparently hitting anything in return…).

Indeed!

[Dark Horse]

This got me thinking what the Anti-Aircraft Cruiser "Carlisle" would look like.

There is information on it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Carlisle_(D67)

[David Manley]

I guess anyone can have an off day, even the experts - she was the RN's top scoring ship from an AA perspective up until that time, with eleven confirmed kills.

[Dark Horse]

I guess anyone can have an off day, even the experts - she was the RN's top scoring ship from an AA perspective up until that time, with eleven confirmed kills.

It just seems like such a big chunk of floating steel, too much invested in men & resources for such a (comparatively) small result, IMHO.

[Jager]

I guess anyone can have an off day, even the experts - she was the RN's top scoring ship from an AA perspective up until that time, with eleven confirmed kills.

It just seems like such a big chunk of floating steel, too much invested in men & resources for such a (comparatively) small result, IMHO.

Such things can be difficult to measure; AAAs true purpose was to keep their charges from being bombed. Yes, shooting down planes was great, but if the attackers' aim is put off, then they have just wasted fuel, munitions and a measure of luck for no result. AA cruisers really came into their own with the deployment of radar-fused shells.
On the other hand, with the increase of AAA and dual-purpose guns on regular ships, notably BBs, specialized hulls like this became less useful (on the third hand, the USN used them for close-in shore bombardment quite well).
Karl

[Carl_Brisgamer]

There are good descriptions of the attack formations/tactics used against British and Greek shipping and not being all that familiar with this theatre of action, I was a bit surprised at the sheer amount of damage and sinkings these Stukas caused.[/I][/INDENT]

The Stukageschwader were very good at their job. They would attack with a continuous succession of aircraft dive bombing their target from different directions to confuse and overwhelm the enemy defences. They were particularly effective during the evacuations of Greece and Crete where the RAF could not provide sufficient air cover.

[Dark Horse]

The Stukageschwader were very good at their job. They would attack with a continuous succession of aircraft dive bombing their target from different directions to confuse and overwhelm the enemy defences. They were particularly effective during the evacuations of Greece and Crete where the RAF could not provide sufficient air cover.

Yes it describes these circling tactics in the book and also the observing British sailors' (grudging?) admiration for the tactics and courage used against them.