The Straits of Messina: Diary of a Fighter Commander

by Johannes Steinhoff, Peter Ross (translation), Betty Ross (translation)

In an account of unusual power, Luftwaffe ace Johannes Steinhoff recounts the final days of the German air force on Sicily in June and July 1943. Facing crushing odds—including a commander, Hermann G(ering, who contemptuously treated his pilots as cowards—Steinhoff and his fellow Messerschmitt 109 pilots took to the skies day after day to meet waves of dreaded Flying Fortresses and swarms of Allied fighters, all bent on driving the Germans from the island. A captivating narrative and a piercing analysis, this book is a classic of aerial combat.

Author Biography: Johannes Steinhoff shot down 176 Allied aircraft during World War II. After the war, he served as Chief of Staff of the West German Air Force and later as Chairman of NATO's Military Committee. He wrote several books on his war experiences before his death in 1994.

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

Paperback

Published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Mark Lisac · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong recounting of a German fighter group's final three weeks before being pushed out of Sicily in July 1943 would have been worth reading in itself. What makes Steinhoff's book an engrossing and amazing read is its literary quality. The prose is never flashy but the writing makes you feel the heat and dust of Sicily, the oil smell and high-altitude cold inside a Bf 109 cockpit, the emotions of fliers who feel abandoned and insulted by their high command. Steinhoff also deftly describes the character of many of the men he served with. It's billed as a diary but is really a memoir, although possibly based on a diary. The intense focus on a few weeks of constant struggle to survive heightens the drama.
A quick Internet search for more information about Steinhoff added depth and context. He studied classics and languages for some years before a family shortage of money for further study led him to join the Luftwaffe in 1936; that helps explain his writing ability. He was highly circumspect about his own history. A description of one pilot's injuries and prospects for recovering from severe burns goes by without mention that Steinhoff himself suffered injuries and severe burns when another fighter crashed into his on takeoff in the last month of the war. He does not mention that his reconstructive surgery and convalescence took two years. In an epilogue, he describes his post-war career as being a painter of pottery and a junior advertising executive, leaving out the fact he had been called back to the military in the 1950s, eventually becoming the top Luftwaffe general and a senior air commander in NATO.
The few pages of epilogue take a remarkable turn. Steinhoff's memoir, originally published early in 1971, was apparently intended in part as an object lesson for NATO leaders on how to approach planning for air operations during the Cold War. The publisher of the English translation could have stood to clean up a few typos such as "bail out" sometimes being spelled as "bale out."

[Bas Kreuger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Not only did Steinhoff write a lucid account of the desperate struggle of a shrinking air force against overwhelming odds, he also proves to be a engrossing writer who is able to convey the increasingly cynical thoughts of the fighter pilots and to bring home the pressure of the daily missions with an almost statistical certainty of death or captivity in the end.
It always seems a luxurious way to fight a war: being a fighter pilot. Coming home to a nice and safe base, with a real bed, good food and drink. Certainly to the foot soldiers, used to mud and filth of the battlefield.
Steinhoff shows how the fighter pilot is always alone in his battle, no-one at his side and how this grates at the nerves. Not fear, but anxiety is the word he uses for this state of mind

[Cropredy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In these times, I normally eschew reading memoirs of German servicemen as one has no way of knowing how "Nazi" they were. But in this case, I made an exception as the book was recommended by the "We Have Ways" podcast as an excellent account of being an air commander on the German side, in this case, Sicily, just prior to and during the invasion in July 1943. It complements in a rough sense my recent read of a Spitfire / Typhoon pilot in 1943-45 The Big Show: The Classic Account of WWII Aerial Combat.

The book was written around 1971 or so and reads like a novelization of the actual events. I have no way of knowing if the junior officers mentioned were real people or not but in a way, that didn't matter. The book was based on Steinhoff's unit war diaries.

What makes this book unique is how it captures two opposing emotions:

One, that a German airman does his duty, no matter how tired, poorly supplied, or out-numbered. One carries on despite the losses of friends. One appreciates the hard work of the mechanics, radio operators, cooks, and all the support staff.

And two, the sense that the war is already lost. That the high command (read: Hermann Goering) has gone off the deep end into fantasyland. That the German propaganda machine has no idea of the reality on the ground or the air. Steinhoff was a Group commander (nominally around 100 planes, all Me-109s) and had been used as a "fireman" on the Russian and North African campaigns to date.

Unlike other fighter pilot memoirs of air war, there are only a few depictions of air-air combat (sometimes against Allied fighters, sometimes in attacks against bombers). The book covers only a few days of time where the Luftwaffe is getting pounded day and night by Allied attacks against Sicilian airbases. Multiple interception sorties are launched daily. Emergency landing fields are exploited. Tactics evolve. Sleep is precious and scarce. This almost 24x7 perspective makes it rather unique amongst war stories. The juxtaposition between the duty and despair/frustration emotions comes through in every chapter.

There's a minor side story dealing with the Italian air command that was supposed to, but didn't, cooperate with the German command.

Pro tip -- As there are no maps, a knowledge of where Sicilian towns are located comes in handy. The airfield at Trapani figures prominently (and it is on the extreme western tip of Sicily)

A few poor quality photos of Me-109 in tropical kit.

Worth reading for aficionados of Operation Husky who want to get quotidian view of the German side of one part of the battle. It has a lot in common with the Imperial War Museum reissued war novel classics .

[GrabAsia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book showing the rare German experience. It covers a short time (June-July 1943) with great detail, so we experience the daily grind. Steinhoff fought the whole war and this book focusses on his short time in Sicily, after the fall of North Africa and the invasion of Sicily. I wondered why & he explains in the epilogue that it was when he first thought Germany would lose the war. His experience of facing crazy odds, being constantly bombed, retreating from airfield to airfield seemed very much like what the RAF faced in France in 1940. Steinhoff's account was well interspersed with descriptions of the Battle of Britain, Russia & his short stint in North Africa. The English edition I read did not tell me when Steinhoff published the original German one, but he mentions later it was 25 years after the end of the war, so 1970. The English translation includes words like "scramble" etc. I wonder if that was the translator using English equivalents, or if there really were evocative German words that said the same.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid memoir of a German pilot officer facing the turning tide as the Allies started to claw territory from the Axis forces in WWII.
Focusing mainly on the invasion of Sicily, with reference to air combat in both the Russian theatre and at the fall of North Africa, the author highlights the struggle of German pilots as they face an onslaught more overwhelming than that which Allied countries faced when the Germans first advanced.
Highlights the outdated (WWI) thinking of German military heads with a lack of strategic planning and misuse of especially air resources with a constant focus on attack and not defence.

I don't know why the publisher put a picture of Stukas on the cover of this edition as it is all about the pilots of Messerschmitt Bf109s.

[KOMET · Rating 4 out of 5]

Messerschmitts Over Sicily: Diary of a Luftwaffe Fighter Commander offers a fascinating story of the challenges and hazards Steinhoff and his fighter wing (JG 77) faced in trying to help stem the Allied advance into Sicily.

Steinhoff, a prewar trained pilot, saw action on virtually all of Germany's fighting fronts, scored 176 victories, and managed to survive the war (though grievously wounded in April 1945)

[Donnacha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Read

[Nicolás Manzioni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelentemente relatado, casi se siente uno de acompañante de Johannes

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read by one of the best pilots of WW2. What these pilots and their support staff had to go through because of one madman should of been told 30 years ago when they could of got more recognition for their deeds.

[Bronze Age Barbarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great memoir written in an almost novel like way. Written by one of the best, Steinhoff took the time to write about a neglected part of the airwar in Sicily. It's extremely valuable for the historical record and it is very well written.

[Paul Naughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it gives us an interesting snapshot of the war, and that is all it is... a snapshot of a German Fighter Wing during the Second World War.