Figure 1.-- Here we see a young Luftwaffe family. They were probably married in the lull between the Battle of Britain (1940) and Barbriossa (1941). Their little boy look to be about 3 years old. All we know about them was that the photograph was taken in September 1943. The father looks to be an NCO, possibly a flight cadet. Notice his well polished jack boots. They look to live in a substantial home. German cities were not yet in ruins, but if t was set in the suburbs it may hace survuved the bombing.

Here we see a young Luftwaffe family. They were probably married in the lull between the Battle of Britain (1940) and Barbriossa (1941). Their little boy look to be about 3 years old. All we know about them was that the photograph was taken in September 1943. The father looks to be an NCO, possibly a flight cadet. Notice his well polished jack boots. They look to live in a substantial home. German cities were not yet in ruins, but if t was set in the suburbs it may hace survuved the bombing. This was a pivotal time for the Luftwaffe. They had played a decisive role in the early German victories, but had failed at Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, largely due to Göring's and Hitler's incompetence. And while they destoyed large numbers of Soviet aircraft as part of Brbarossa (June 1941), the Luftwaffe's efforts were not decisive in this climatic campaign of the War. (Unlike the campaigns in the West, in the East there were not small numbers of points in which the Luftwaffe could concentrate its striking power.) The Allies launched the combined bomber campaign against the Reich (January 1943). Most Luftwaffe squadeons were pulled back from the East to defend German cities. They were still fairly sucessful at the time this photograph was taken, but in only a few months with the arrival of P-51 Mustang escorts and increasing numbers of bonbers, the Luftwaffe and most of its pilots would be largely destroyed, leaving German cities to be ravaged by Allied bombers.

Created: 7:30 AM 6/24/2022
Last updated: 7:30 AM 6/24/2022