– STUKA –

THE DOCTRINE OF THE GERMAN

DIVE-BOMBER

We are excited to announce our new book Stuka – The Doctrine of the German Dive-Bomber, offering an unprecedented look at the famous Junkers Ju 87 from World War 2. Supporters of this book can choose from a variety of exclusive offers and can actively help expand and improve the book by a series of stretch goals.

Your support ensured the success of our two previous books: The German Army Regulation 470/7 – The Medium Tank Company and the German Army Pamphlet 25a/16: The Assault Platoon of the Grenadier-Company. We want to continue along the path of improving access to German original documents by refining our projects further. With Stuka – The Doctrine of the German Dive-Bomber you can be a part of this journey, as we try to set a new standard in allowing more people access to German documents from World War 2 that further our understanding of it. This is why this third entry is somewhat distinct from the two earlier books in the series.

With the translation of several key original documents, Stuka – The Doctrine of the German Dive-Bomber offers an in-depth look at the tactics, doctrine, training and operational use of the Ju 87, thus having a different scope over the previous releases. Also, by focusing entirely on the English translation, we are able to provide more information and context in our explorative articles that accompany the primary sources.

While this aircraft has been covered in many books, we believe that Stuka – The Doctrine of the German Dive-Bomber is not just distinct but offers a completely new appreciation of this famous bird as we are putting the original sources center stage. Carefully translated into English, these will offer details and new reflections on the Ju 87, with a lot of supplementary information added for your reading pleasure.

As a unique collection of reference documents, annotated and explored in full detail, this book provides something for enthusiasts, history buffs, collectors, historians and researchers, making a great addition to any collection.

What You Get & Why It Is Unique

Stuka – The Doctrine of the German Dive-Bomber includes 8 original Luftwaffe documents translated into English, alongside introductory essays that provide additional information and context. These documents have been carefully curated and gathered from various archives to provide you with the best foundation on the tactics, doctrine, organization, training and operational experience with the Junkers Ju 87 dive-bomber. And the best part is, as far as we can tell, these documents have never been published like this before! These documents include:

• A full organizational breakdown of a Sturzkampfgeschwader (Dive-Bomber Group), giving a complete look at the structure of a unit. This is accompanied with a visualization chart for quick reference that reflects a full Geschwader (Group) from the individual over to the complete unit.
• The original training manual on how to dive-bomb with the Junkers Ju 87, illustrated with more than a dozen graphs and visualizations that provide you with a fantastic representation of the given examples.
• A full original description of the tasks and roles of dive-bombers in the Luftwaffe, giving you the full picture on how the Germans conceptualized the role of the Junkers Ju 87 during World War 2.
• Ju 87s against motorized columns – how does this work? Look no further than the pamphlet on the use of dive-bomber units against motorized ground forces, foreshadowing the use of the Ju 87 in the campaigns against Poland, France and the Soviet Union.
• Night bombing in the Ju 87? Yes, it’s possible as the notice on the special guidelines on night dive-bombing with the Ju 87 will show!
• and much more.

These documents will allow you not only to read how the Luftwaffe planned to use the Ju 87, but you will also discover the experiences gained in the actual operations, right out of the mouth (or rather, typewriter) of the Luftwaffe.

Stretch goals

Getting this project beyond the minimal funding will allow us to make it even better. With more support, we will be able to upgrade this book by including extra content into the final print.

Current progress

As with our previous projects, we present this project to you after having already invested considerable time and effort into it. As such, you are not backing a product that has yet to be made.

The next steps are:

1. Finalize short essays providing additional information on relevant documents.
2. Finish the translation into the final annotated English text.
3. Complete the formatting and editing of the manuscript.
4. Order test prints to check the product.
5. Getting it printed, (and signed for signed copies) and sent to you.

The Team & Vision

Christoph Bergs (Military Aviation History) and Bernhard Kast (Military History Visualized)

We are both native German speakers and have worked professionally in English for over five years, continuously translating and exploring German original documents in our daily work. Our vision is to facilitate better access to German primary sources from World War 2 so as to improve our understanding of this critical time in history.

Our past projects were The German Army Regulation 470/7 – The Medium Tank Company and the German Army Pamphlet 25a/16: The Assault Platoon of the Grenadier-Company. Both followed this vision and were also successfully crowdfunded by your support.

As the third release in the series, Stuka – The Doctrine of the German Dive-Bomber we want to do even better, further refining the formula and giving you a new experience in getting down into the very details of the Luftwaffe’s own theories and pratical use of one of the most famous aircraft from World War 2.

Shipping

We are happy to announce that shipping is, as usual, included in the final price and that no additional charges are put in place by us for you to receive your book. Based on our previous experiences, we have optimised our printing and shipping processes, ensuring that your orders will be handled promptly and efficiently.

• Impact of Covid-19: In our last campaign, Covid-19 did have an unexpected impact on production and shipment costs. We did not roll any additional costs on our supporters since this would have been unfair. For this campaign, we do need to take into account these new additional costs. As such the fraction of the cost that was covering shipping has increased to compensate for these new fees.