"MATT BOWDEN'S FIRST BOOK GREAT WAR'S FINEST" Topic

WWW.GREATWARSFINEST.COM

Hello all, Just putting up the website which was recently launched for my first book: GREAT WAR'S FINEST: A Study Of The Central Power's Air Services" I will have an entire sample chapter on the book's website greatwarsfinest.com shortly. The work on organizational charts/statistical data charts/maps and page layout is currently being worked on as well as the chapter on the operational history of the Luftstreitkrafte for the 1918 Spring Offensive (which is going to be a very lengthy chapter). Using squadron histories, after-action reports, personal diaries, Armee Stofl weekly reports, Feldflugchef Thomsen's memo's/letters/etc as well as primary source documents from Luftstreitkrafte HQ.. all of which have never been used or seen published in English… the book will be unique. The operational history of the Central Power's aviators and how they affected operations on the ground has never been done to this level of specificity. With Russian Front/Balkans, Italian Front and Middle East as well as The Western Front covered… readers will have an appreciation for the Fliegertruppe and their actions in little known fronts/battles. Most know about Bloody April.. very few know about Operation Albion on the Eastern Front or the Fliegertruppe during the Marne Campaign of August/September 1914 in which they worked closesly with artillery batteries, contrubuting to the massive successes of the German Western Armies during the Battle of The Frontiers and later during the Marne.. if only Moltke had better coordianted the armies and the position of Armee Aviation Staff Officer existed at the time, the Franco-British attempts to exploit the gap at the Marne could have been observed and described to Armee HQ. This could have forced Kluck and Bulow to behave differently and redeploy their forces resulting in German victory on the Marne and possibly a conclusion to the war…all of these topics are discussed in detail with statistical data and first hand accounts (after action reports/letters/diaries). In addition to the hundreds of photos, numerous maps, Organizational and Statistical charts & tables to give the reader a further understanding.

Looks great! I'll be getting one…..

Yep. Looks like a must have!

That looks interesting… I will watch for the sample…

Thanks!

This does look very interesting indeed and I'll be watching out for the book.

But I must say that the bit about IF the Great War's finest had done a proper job of observing the allied armies and IF the organisation had been in place to exploit the information and IF Von Moltke had responded appropriately and IF Von Kluck and Von Bulow had been in the right place then the German army would have won the battle of the Marne and the war kinda makes me smile.

As we know, the Great War's finest failed to identify the Allied counter-attack and in fact it was "the Great War's second finest", i.e. French aviation, which delivered the information that made it possible to stall the German advance. ;-)

Ambitious! Unprecedented. I hope that your efforts translate into ground-breaking and facilitated detail, for all of us interested personages….

Bring it on… :-)

Rudolf Berthold and several other aviators attached to 1 Armee did in fact identify the counter attack on the Marne. The lack of an aviation staff officer at Armee HQ caused the messages to either not be fully utilized or never seen (its debated). But the aviators throughout the Marne campaign showed how good they really were with excellent artillery cooperation flights, allowing German batteries to silence French batteries often before they ever got into action. Without wireless devices the airmen would write details on paper and drop the paper in a canister at a local HQ or artillery battery locale and necessary action was then taken. French after actions throughout the battle mention how German aviation cooperation with their artillery was much better than their own.. and of course the details of the actions and the direct quotes from German ground troops/German aviators and Franco-British ground troops are all placed in the text of the Chapter regarding the Marne Campaign 1914. So the thesis about the Marne Campaign is it was organizational flaws and not the aviators themselves that betrayed the army