Military Model Scene

Title:  Guerrilla Nightmare

Author: Lovro Persen & Mario Raguz

Publisher:  Kagero

ISBN:  978-83-65437-78-5

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This 152 page hardback from Kagero tells us the story of the Luftwaffe Stukas and there role in the war against Tito's partisans in the country then known as Yugoslavia during the period 1941-1945.  This is very much a history of events, accompanied by over 200 excellent archive photos to illustrate the narrative.  It is an element of a story I didn't previously know in such detail.  Having moved South to invade Greece, the German army had to go through Yugoslavia and that meant an ongoing war with the partisans.

Despite the experience of the Stuka in the Battle of Britain, where it was found to be vulnerable to the fighters of the RAF, it's strength still lay in the ability to deliver bombs with good accuracy in support of ground forces operations.  The partisans did not possess the sort of aircraft to oppose the use of this effective ground attack aircraft.

After the initial invasion in 1941, the following period is quiet as the Luftwaffe was distracted by the operations in Russia, but the story picks up pace from January 1943 with Operation Weiss.  The book then progresses through a number of operations, and recounted in excellent detail in the remaining chapters.  There are 13 chapters in all and among these include such as Summer 1943; Training and More Training...and more Fighting; Aerodromes Under Attack, as Allied heavy bombers targeted Luftwaffe airfields in the Balkans; Supporting the Wehrmacht Withdrawal; The End and a Little Bit Beyond while the final chapter is useful for modellers, looking at Aircraft Markings and Camouflage.  The book is rounded off with 20 excellent colour profiles, showing various marking schemes which include German, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Italian operated Stukas as well as one captured example used by the partisans.

The book is packed with detailed information on the aircraft, the historical sequence of events and some of the people involved which will add to many historians and modellers knowledge of WW2 in the Balkans.

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Distributed by Casemate Books, who kindly provided my review copy.

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Robin