The Decline of the Luftwaffe As a Maritime Power. Lawrence Patterson’s “Eagles Over the Sea 1943- 45”. Book Review.
Ray Garbee
Eagles Over the Sea 1943-45. Seaforth Publishing. 2020. Author: Lawrence Patterson. 382 pages. ISBN-10: 1526777657
In Eagles over the Sea 1943-45, Lawrence Patterson focuses on the lens of maritime air operations to illuminate the decline of the Luftwaffe in the later half of World War II. While maritime air operations drive the narrative, Patterson also highlights the organizational challenges and personality clashes that contributed to the decline of the Luftwaffe. The time frame of this book tracks roughly with the change in the character of the broader war in which strategic momentum shifted to the Allies with Germany adopting a more defensive posture. It’s a case study in the economics of a global war in which Nazi Germany found itself “punching above its weight class” against the Allied economic powers which it was unable to match in terms of manpower, resources or industrial output. This volume completes Patterson’s history of Luftwaffe maritime operations begun with the prior book