Battling the Bombers

by Wilhelm Johnen

Wilhelm Johnen flew his first operational mission in July 1941, having completed his blind-flying training. In his first couple of years he brought down two enemy planes. The tally went up rapidly once the air war was escalated in spring 1943, when Air Marshal Arthur Harris of the RAF Bomber Command began the campaign dubbed the Battle of the Ruhr. During this phrase of the war Johnen's successes were achieved against a 710-strong force of bombers. Johnen's further successes during Harris's subsequent Berlin offensive led to his promotion as Staffelkapitan (squadron leader) of Nachtjagdgeschwader and a move to Mainz. During a sortie from there, his Bf 110 was hit by return fire and he was forced to land in Switzerland. He and his crew were interned by the authorities. The Germans were deeply worried about leaving a sophisticatedly equipped night fighter and its important air crew in the hands of a foreign government, even if it was a neutral one. After negotiations involving G�ring, the prisoners were released. Johnen's unit moved to Hungary and by October 1944 his score was standing at thirty-three aerial kills. His final one came in March the following year, once Johnen had moved back to Germany.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Aviation, World War II, War, Memoir, Military History

190 pages, Paperback

Published March 26, 2017

Reviews

[Susan Paxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are perishingly few memoirs by German night fighter pilots: in fact, this is the only one I know of. And that's a shame, because it's a mess.

It's good to see some of the William Kimber backlist being picked up, as they were a noteworthy publisher of aircrew memoirs during their roughly 30 years in business, and many of those books were published only in the UK in relatively small print runs. This particular title was published in the original German in 1956, and then by Kimber in English in 1957.

Wilhelm Johnen was a reasonably successful night fighter pilot. During his career, which he appears to have spent exclusively flying Bf110s, he was credited with 33 victories and was awarded the Knight's Cross. His career was not without incident, including a forced landing in Switzerland that got his family and those of his gunner and radar operator arrested by the Gestapo on the belief that Johnen and his crew might have defected. His fighting career spanned from summer 1941 right to the final days of the war, the most intense period of the RAF Bomber Command night offensive against Germany.

And yet the book is a mess. The translation is somewhat stilted, but the main issue is that Johnen clearly wrote with no reference other than his logbook (or possibly only his memory), and with no one to advise him on how to lay the book out, what topics to cover, etc. So we have a book that is very episodic, often difficult to follow, and that is studded with inaccuracies, omissions, and mysteries that needed more explication.

For Greenhill to reprint the book in its original format without any added information I think was a mistake. James Holland could have added some background in his phoned-in intro, but did not. I wanted to like this, because again it's a part of the war that often remains in darkness, but save your money.

[William Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for the audiobook.

What a clear and concise memoir this is! There is very little information available from the German side of the air war during WW2, and particularly the nightime air war. I can quibble that it's hard to follow the timeline here, because the author doesn't give too much information about where he is at any given moment, or what day and year it is.

But that's a really picky issue. In terms of discovering what happened in the nights over the Third Reich, this book is a pillar of understanding.

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

DUEL UNDER THE STARS: The Memoir of a Luftwaffe Night Pilot in World War II is one of the best combat memoirs I've yet to read. The author, Wilhelm Johnen, had joined the Luftwaffe in 1939, age 18, and 2 years later, upon completion of flight training, volunteered for service in the burgeoning night fighter arm (Nachtjagd). The book details his experiences flying Messerschmitt 110 twin-engined fighters in the night-flying role in the Defense of the Reich. This was briefly followed, after Johnen and his crew had been briefly detained in Switzerland in the spring of 1944 following a combat action against British bombers near the Swiss border, by service in Hungary, where his unit flew nocturnal missions against Soviet bombers and supply aircraft (tasked with dropping supplies to partisans in their ongoing resistance to the Germans).

By the end of 1944, Johnen was promoted to Captain, awarded the Knight's Cross for bravery, and posted back to Germany. He survived the war as the commander of III Gruppe of NJG 6 (the 6th Night Fighter Wing), credited with 34 aerial victories.

Besides being a richly compelling memoir, DUEL UNDER THE STARS (originally published in 1957) also has photos of Johnen and his fellow night fighter pilots (inclusive of the top 2 night fighter aces of all time: Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, 121 victories, and Helmut Lent, 102 victories), as well as photos of the air war itself.

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent memoir of a night fighter ace! Great combat recollections.

[Terri Wangard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the Americans flew day missions in World War II, the German nightfighters aren’t well known. The British bore the brunt of their attacks. Even in old war movies, I recall the British bombers being caught in searchlights and shot down by flak, not fighters. Therefore, this memoir was enlightening.
Of interesting note: when the author landed his damaged plane in Switzerland, his family was arrested and jailed by the Gestapo.
He frequently mentions the German anger over the Allies bombing their cities. They conveniently forget their tactics when they started the war―bombing Warsaw, Rotterdam, and other cities, slaughtering men, women, and children.
This book is well worth the time to read, though it does get a bit tedious as he exalts over his British kills. I received a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Philip Shade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in the 1975s Wilhelm Johnen's memoir as a Luftwaffe pilot, fighting against allied bombing raids, is as much adventure story as historical document.

There is action, bravery, loss, stories of the horrors of allied bombing on German cities, and stories of small victories against the unstoppable deluge of the allied bomber stream. While the story lacks any larger context as to the causes or righteousness of either side, Johnen is often candid about the futility of the German resistance.

His men celebrate the downing of a few bombers seen while they recognize it makes no difference against the unending stream of thousands of aircraft bombing day and night. He and his crew marvel at the technological advances of the Americans and the Tommys while the Nazi war machine barely advances, technologically, from where they started.

An enjoyable action read, but limited in scope to world of night fighter.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a candid account of a German pilot serving with the night fighter wing during the second world war.

This is a soldiers account and is written as such, So don't expect intricate descriptions or moving metaphors.
It is very much along the lines of. "- bullets hit the fuel tank setting the cockpit on fire. It was both terrifying and uncomfortable. I managed to set her down and dive for cover before it exploded. The next night..."

It is mostly concerned about the aerial encounters but touches on the horror of carpet bombing and the motivations of people fighting an obviously losing battle.
Typical of the times the writer doesn't get particularly mushy about it.

This is a book about one man's war and does not go into detail about the tactics, politics or ethics of the air war.
This is a very easy read and the author certainly did have an "interesting" war.

[David Lubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A German perspective

I rarely read accounts from the German perspective but this book actually was worth the time spent reading. I was impressed by the number of similarities in squadron life between the Allies and the German forces.

[Johnny Allred · Rating 5 out of 5]

A enjoyable first person (no ghost writer here) story. Wilhelm Johnem Luftwaffe Night fighter ace with 34 kills tells of his combat career flying the Messerschmitt ME-110 at night in World War II. I read the 1994 edition 220 pages with 2 photo sections of 39 photos. Wilhelm starts the book as he joined the Night Fighter Force in 1941 and takes you along, from his first solo night-flight at his new unit to the end of the war in 1945. There is lots of action, you are in the ME-110 with him and his crew as he searches the night for Wellington, Halifax, Stirling, Lancaster and Mitchell bombers. It's not all in Wilhelm's favor as the bomber gunners shoot back and later Mosquito night fighter come hunting. Life of a Luftwaffe Night Fighter pilot is insightful. He covers what they call fighter control, the Radar, the up and downs of combat at night, and Bomber Command coming to bomb almost every night. There are very few stories of German pilots from the Second World War because most did not service the war . This is a enjoyable one, I am glad he took the time to write his experiences down.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1956 and subsequently updated, 'Duel Under the Stars' is the memoirs of Wilhelm Johnen, a Luftwaffe nightfighter pilot from 1941-1945. The later update added a number of photos to those already included, and the most recent edition includes a foreword by James Holland. In the latest edition, over 120 photos are included - these are a mixed bunch, with some nice shots of the various pilots mentioned as well as some rather terrible pics of various aircraft types. The text makes for an interesting read, but the vagueness and contradictory nature of many details make it of very little use as a historical record. As Johnen was the pilot who famously force landed a Me 110G in Switzerland in 1944, his account of this is of interest.

[Yoda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Very Interesting, Enlightening and Engrossing Memoir that Keeps the Reader Glued to His Seat

The below is a review of the audiobook edition of this work.

This memoir is interesting for two reasons. One is that the author was a night fighter pilot from the earliest stages of the war to the very end. Hence the reader gets the "feel" of night fighter fighting throughout the entire war, from the early pre-airborne radar days when enemy bombers had to basically be found through the use of eyeballs (even though ground radar directed night fighters to the general area bombers were at) through the latest days when the most advanced airborne radars were used. Hence the reader learns of how tactics and aircraft changed throughout war. This also includes the periods when the use of "window" temporarily blinded German radar and tactics had to change accordingly (i.e., basically the use of "wild boar" tactics where night fighters concentrated near cities where search lights could illuminate bombers, as in the early pre-airborne radar days). The reader also learns how later technologies (i.e., backward looking warning radars) influenced combat when evading and fighting enemy night flyers.

The reader not only gains this from reading the book but also a feeling of being there. The author describes his first-hand experiences very vividly. From experiencing St. Elmo's fire, through flying blind and hunting enemy bombers (through a variety of tactics as the war progressed, as described above), encounters with very bad weather and friendly flak fire, the reader feels as if he is sitting next to the author. The audiobook itself is very well read.

All and all very enlightening and engrossing. Four and a half stars.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read someone's story whenever we have big jumps in the way we do things and they are involved in making it happen. Can you imagine being told to take your regular day flying airplane up at night just to see how well you can see and whether maybe you can find and shoot down another plane? Night flying instruments had not been much developed or trained much for these flyers and they had to come up with ways to make it work on the fly (literally).

Overall a good brief look into what it was like to be a night flyer trying to fly defensive missions against British bombers attacking mainland Europe during WWII. The author goes right into his story at the beginning of the war and doesn't get into his life story before or afterwards. He doesn't talk politics and the only atrocities he talks about are the bombings of civilian cities he was trying to prevent.

The author relates a conversation with one of his peers talking about how he had sailed on a ship in a storm before the war and got to know some of the English sailors. Going through the storm together brought them together and created a feeling of comradeship and friendship. He decried the racism each side used to make the other side seem foreign and evil and wished for better times when everyone worked together to use science for good rather than creating better ways to kill each other. Interesting that this conversation stuck with the author and made it into the book. It's important to remember in each conflict of any great size many ordinary people get caught up in these events that are far from their control and must do the best they can under the circumstances.

[Peter Naylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enlightening account of what fighting on the losing side of a war is like, especially as so few German pilots have written memoirs. The firsthand accounts of being on the receiving end of of the early British radar jamming efforts and the resulting chaos is a good change of perspective from what the likes of R.V. Jones who designed the systems had written, and the accounts of crews flying helplessly over the firebombings are horrifying.
It's astounding that in the face of overwhelming odds they felt they had to carry on fighting, even when their orders involved sending outdated, overweight nightfighters that could barely keep up with British night bombers against American daylight raids. It also gives a good insight into the chaos in the Luftwaffe in the closing days of the war, when pilots and groundcrew were being drafted into the infantry, and they would often de-fuel all their aircraft to get just one airborne. Most accounts of this chaos have been written by the British prisoners of war who found themselves on forced marches.

It also includes a rare account of flying the Me-262 jet fighter, and gushes at the technical leap it was over his outdated Bf-110... followed by disbelief that they could have been using it a year earlier if the Luftwaffe hadn't been so disinterested in developing new technologies until the middle of the war.

Would highly recommend, and is a very useful change in perspective.

[Fred M · Rating 5 out of 5]

In WW II, Americans bombed Germany by day and the British bombed Germany by night. I’ve read several books about the American bombing campaign during WW II (especially Schweinfurt). And, although I knew that Germany had night fighters, I still naively assumed darkness mostly protected the British bombers from fighter attacks. This book set me straight. The British lost hundreds of bombers (and their aircrews) to Germany’s night fighters.

The lethality of Germany’s night fighters ebbed and flowed over the course of the war because technological advances by both Germany and Britain impacted the ability of Germany’s night fighters to locate and attack the British bombers. And Britain developed their own, long range night fighters to shoot down German night fighters. Despite the increasing risks to themselves, the German airmen remained highly motivated to attack the bombers because they saw an increasing number of their cities set on fire by the streams of bombers.

This book is about life as a pilot flying German night fighters. Period. The book starts with the author joining a night fighter air group, and the book ends with the end of WW II. There is no extraneous filler in this book. No biographical details such as about his childhood. No philosophizing about morality. No after-the-war follow up. It’s just about the author trying to get the job done as best he could given the current circumstances.

Bottom line: A very interesting aspect of the WW II air war that I’d not read anything about elsewhere.

[John Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Wilhelm Johnen republished the book “Duel Under the Stars: The Memoir of a Luftwaffe Night Pilot in World War II” in 2018. The book was first published in 1956.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. This is the war memoir of German night fighter pilot Wilhelm Johnen.

The book tells of Johnen’s activities during WWII. It also tells a little history of the German night fighters. Most of Johnen’s combat flying time was in the ME 110.

I enjoyed the 6.5+ hours I spent reading this 320-page WWII history. This is only the second book I have read written from the German perspective. I think it is interesting to see the war through their eyes. I give this novel a 4.2 (rounded down to a 4) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnen shares his experiences as a Luftwaffe night fighter ace in WW2. Johnen began as a night fighter nearly at the beginning of the night fighter service and survived through the end of the war, so in describing his experiences, he offers the reader a viewpoint into the evolution of night fighting in the air war over Europe. This includes the changes in tactics for both the RAF and the Luftwaffe; the impact of technology - the use of chaff by the British, airborne radar, use of pathfinders, early warning radar for the Luftwaffe; and the introduction of Mosquitos to combat Luftwaffe night fighters.
Johnen was based in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Hungary, so he offers details on combatting the RAF based in the UK, RAF based in Italy, and Russian night flights in support of partisans.
An interesting perspective on this part of the air war over Europe during WW2.

[Podge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is the story of a young German fighter pilot joining the night fighter crews flying in WW2 Me 110 machines against the allies.
It was fascinating to read for the other sides perspective on the aerial battles and good to see that there was some care shown for the Britishers as the bombers went to earth Wilhelm would watch and count how many escaped via parachute.
The hearbreaking story came about a rusdian crew flying with the cockpit lights on and discovering these were trainees and no parachute and the pilot had to parachute leaving his students to die as the plane went down. How could you live with yourself?
Also the tailgunner who was about to die in a nosediving plan shooting back at Wilhelm as the plane went down and he could be seen...what bravery. I could not do what these mighty men did....the sacrifice of bomber crews was unreal.However the carpet bombing of Cities in Germany was focused on as well and the book shows the reality of the situation.

[Paul Drinkwater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight to night fighting over Europe from the German perspective. It does not waste time building up the story with a third of the book on where the author was born and where he went to school, it goes straight in with some key moments for context, and then he is flying in the night sky, searching for the enemy. I would recommend it to someone who is interested in WWII and has an interest in this specific subject, but it will not garner new interest in WWII from someone who does not possess a decent understanding of the war timelines and geography - having said all that, i thought it was a great book

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good memoir written by a German night fighter. It offers a decent general overview of the nighttime air operations for the Germans. It is a fun story to read but is not a super reliable source. Memoirs inherently are a bit shaky on facts and tend to try and push a certain agenda post facto. This memoir is devoid of politics and focuses on defending the “fatherland” from the “horrible” bomber forces of the Allies. But if you go into this book understanding it’s a story being told from the perspective of one man through his own hindsight and not a wartime source it is extremely entertaining. I definitely would recommend this for anyone interested in the air war and ww2.

[T.J. Hoffpauir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting to see the perspective of someone on the other side of the Allies. You get to see from an actual participant the way they felt towards the war and their feelings about Hitler. At one point at the end of the book, he said he wasn't continuing to fight because he was some fanatic of Hitler and the regime, but only because of his personal integrity and the rest of the guys around him that relied on his decisions and attitude. Spoiler Alert: The other side wins!

[Henry Wortmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

It Was Not Easy

There is no romance of flying in the book. It is about young men flying and dying. The cost of lives to the British bomber suffered and the lives given by the German pilots a crews going up nights in end to bring down the bombers. There is mention I the destruction wrought on German cities and the cost to the civilian population brought about by ambitious political figures which seems never dated by the dead, but goes on matter what country it is.

[Conner Crowder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this book for anybody interested in hearing the personal account of a German Nachtjagdgeschwader Ace during World War 2. Really enjoyed reading this book and thought it was a very realistic account of the difficulties faced by the German Night Fighters in combatting Bomber Command, the Soviets, and the Americans. Also thought the author did a good job of explaining why he and his unit continued to fight until the very end even though they knew the war was lost.

[Jeff Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interest view of WW2 air battles from German night fighter pilot.

He had such a wide array of experiences and understanding of what was happening with Germany in the latter years.

I listened to this book on Audible and recommend for anyone interested about WW2. It looks like when I got it, it was available in plus catalog, no longer is. I still think it's worth the credit or sale cash price if on sale.

[Robert John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unputdownable

A great read. It showed the bravery and ingenuity of the Germans. Even though had the odds stacked against them carried on to the bitter end. A really great read from the war in the air during the second World War. I highly recommend this book. No jingoism or who was right and who was wrong.

[ANGUS ROSBOROUGH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting tales of night fighting ferrying-do.

This describes night fighting in the Me-110 from the early days until the end. It is a bottoms up view and for that reason easily holds the reader’s attention. The author’s style is also easy on the brain and the book is both well organised and well written.

[Stephan Neff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed and engaging

I thoroughly enjoyed the book which in great detail describes the experiences of a nightfighter ace. The writing is compelling and i found myself many times in the cockpit of the author in the middle of a dogfight.

[Michael Remington · Rating 5 out of 5]

easy reading

Learning how German pilots and crew fought and thought was enjoyable with this memoir.
Covers training and unit movements and support.
Helps round out knowledge.
Only complaint is translation to English measurements units may have been flawed.

[Edward L · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review

This was an exciting read. The night fighters were superb airmen and deadly against enemy bombers. They remained resolute until the end of the war.

[Leonard A. Japchinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about ME110 night fighters by Knights Cross winner. Learned a lot about German night fighters and technology. Highly recommend this book. Also many rare photos on the book.

[John Mchale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent narrative of the night air war from a German pilot. Covers all the trials and tribulations of the time through to the end of the war.