The Life and Death of the Luftwaffe is the story of Germanys bomber forces in World War IIthe counterpart to the story of German fighter forces told by Adolf Galland in The First and the Last. Designated General of the Bombersthe highest post in the Luftwaffe bomber commandWerner Baumbach saw combat as a dive bomber pilot at Narvik and Dunkirk. Later he commanded the Luftwaffe forces in Norway, attacking Allied convoys on the Murmansk run, and led Germanys bomber fleets on the Russian front and in the Mediterranean. An outspoken critic of the Luftwaffe blunders committed by Göring and Hitler, Baumbach was saved from dismissal only by his extraordinary record of leadership and courage. In The Life and Death of the Luftwaffe, he presents a rare inside view of German decisions and strategy, based on personal combat experience and official Luftwaffe filesfrom the blitzkrieg in Poland and the fall of France to the Battle of Britain, the siege of Stalingrad, and the collapse of German air power under the torrent of American bombing at the end of World War II.