Red phoenix rising : the Soviet Air Force in World War II /

In 1982, during the heyday of the Cold War, Hardesty's Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power (CH, Jan'83) became available to an eager public that knew very little about the Soviet Air Force, one of the least-known arms of the feared Soviet military machine. Rather than relying on the uncritical works of the Soviet era, Hardesty (Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum) and Grinberg (SUNY College at Buffalo) have revamped Hardesty's classic study by adding new materials from formerly closed Russian archives and incorporating critical biographies of Soviet commanders and pilots. The volume sheds new light on the progression of operational and tactical developments of the Soviet Air Force from the dark days of the German invasion on June 22, 1941, through the final victory over Nazi Germany in May 1945, with special emphasis on the titanic battles at Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk. Because of the authors' efforts, today's readers will finally come to appreciate the heroic efforts of Soviet aviators found in this book, which is destined to become the definitive study of the Soviet Air Force as well as one of the finest classics of the Russo-German War available to libraries today. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. C. C. Lovett Emporia State University