Volume 1 covers the first year, the period from phoney war to total war: September 3, 1939 to September 6, 1940. Beginning with endless air raid warnings and a sense of unreality, it was a phase which was to culminate in Hitler threatening to raze Britain's cities to the ground. As a direct source of the day-to-day effects of Luftwaffe operations over Britain at the time, the book utilises extracts from the 24-hour log compiled by the Ministry of Home Security, and this provides a contemporary diary of events as they affected the Home Front. These entries ideally form the setting for a detailed record of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe over Britain and within sight of land: a barometer of the air war, showing clearly the changing climate of hostilities. Every German crash on land is listed with its crew, and footnotes are included on all the crash sites which are known to have been investigated or excavated since the end of the war, together with photographs of some of the more interesting discoveries. Features and special articles by historians and eyewitnesses intersperse the daily happenings, illustrating life at the time on both the civilian and service fronts.

COMPLETE CONTENTS VOLUME 1

DEDICATION

FOREWORD

FROM THE EDITOR

THE CONTRIBUTORS

GLOSSARY

INTRODUCTION

FROM PHONEY WAR TO TOTAL WAR
September 1939 - September 1940

THE LUFTWAFFE

The features or special articles

EVACUATION

FIGHTER COMMAND'S FIRST CASUALTY

FIRST OF THE MANY

HITLER'S SECRET WEAPON

THE LOSS OF THE SS BARN HILL

FIRST CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN ENGLAND

BALLOON BARRAGES

CIVIL DEFENCE

THE FOYLEBANK VC

CHAIN HOME RADAR AND THE BLITZ

BARRAGE BALLOON COLLISION

BOMBS AND OTHER MISSILES DROPPED ON THE UK, 1940-1945

JOSEF MARKL'S ESCAPADE

ARRESTED AS A GERMAN AIRMAN!

DECOYS

SHELL-SHOCK

THE DISCOVERY OF FRITZ BUCHNER

THE ELECTRONIC WAR

OBLT. HELMUT STROBL