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Rating: 
Summary: Another wonderful volume!
Review: I originally ordered this book in August, but delays in shipping prevented it from arriving in my hands until recently. Let me say that the wait is all the more frustrating because this is a wonderful book!Volume 2 of Black Cross / Red Star retains the written quality of Christer Bergstrom and Andrey Mikhailov, but adds aviation color profiles done by such notables as Claes Sundin and Tom Tullis. Those in the aviation community are familiar with their excellent work. When I reviewed Volume 1, I made comments about the quality of the maps and photos. The authors and publisher listened to reader feedback and made the necessary corrections. The maps are outstanding! No blurring and all place names are readable. This greatly assists the reader when following the myriad of battles on the Eastern Front. The strength of Black Cross / Red Star has always been the team of Bergstrom and Mikhailov. They intermix dates, times, persons and events with first-person accounts by all protagonists. Using this formula, the numbers and facts are given a human face. Joy, triumph, sorrow and pain all lie beneath all military statistics. For every victor there is a defeated foe. The reader learns about them in their own words from diaries and interviews. Every day, surviving veterans pass on. Books like Black Cross / Red Star will soon be the only resource by which they will be remembered. I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a sprinkling of interest in historical aviation.
Rating: 
Summary: HIGH QUALITY CONTENT, POOR QUALITY PRODUCTION
Review: LIKE SO MANY OF THE OTHER REVIEWS, THE QUALITY OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK IS SUPERB; HOWEVER, AFTER REVIEWING 17 COPIES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES, I HAVE CONCLUDED THAT THE PHYSICAL PRODUCTION IS ONE OF THE POOREST I HAVE EVER SEEN. FOLDED AND CREASED PAGES PROIR TO THE PRINTING AND SMEARED PRINTING INK ON NUMEROUS PAGES LOWER THE QUALITY AND VALUE OF THIS BOOK. FOR THOSE WISHING TO COLLECT THIS SERIES: BLACK CROSS/RED STAR, VOLUME II WAS A GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT COMPARED TO VOLUME I.
IF A CLEAN COPY OF VOLUME II DOES EXIST , I WOULD BE MOST INTERESTED IN PURCHASING IT, SO AS TO ADD IT TO MY COLLECTION OF VOLUME I. THIS SERIES IS AN AMAZING WORK OF LITURATURE, AND HOPEFULLY, PRODUCTION OF THE REMANINING VOLUMES WILL NOT ENCOUNTER SUCH POOR WORKMANSHIP. HANK PUSICH, hank_pusich2000@yahoo.com
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't be better
Review: Looking at BC/RS as a series, the overwhelming weight of reviewers rate it 5-stars. I heartily agree. The authors are gifted, analyzing the multiple factors relevant to combat and battle outcomes, then expressing their findings in an easily readable way. The text is authoritative. To see where they got such a boggling mix of information, check the back of the book: their "Sources" fill more than 4 pages. Their approach is even-handed, it relies on facts to give an unvarnished view of true history. Events are organized by Eastern Front combat zones with the focus on how air battles affected the outcome of major battles. As with Volume 1, the authors continue to illuminate new material and go on to dig into reasons why. A prime example is their thought-provoking chapter on the Demyansk pocket airlift. Throughout the text, outstanding pilots of both sides get recognition for their exploits and often enough the worthy but lesser knowns also get their due. In one respect, volume 2 improves on its predecessor -- illustrations. Photos are better. Also, fresh, hi-quality profile art of representative aircraft is abundant. Captions often add interesting detail. A brief review can not capture all the strengths of this work which breaks new ground and does it so well. I've tried to avoid being redundant with other reviewers and recommend that interested buyers also check into other comments, including those for Volume 1.
Rating:
Summary: En excellent book!
Review: The second part in the Black Cross/Red Star series focus on the air war between january - june 1942, perhaps the least know phase of the entire air war on the eastern front. Knowledge of the air war on the eastern front has always been scarce in the west, and has mostly been influenced by the german point of view. This is a unfortunate result of the cold war, when access to soviet sources was almost nonexistant. But the cold war is over, and the soviet archives are slowly being opened for western scholars. This book is full of interesting information about the equipment, aircraft, tactics and pilot training of the Luftwaffe and the V-VS (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily, Soviet Military Airforce. The included glossary is excellent!), not to mention the excellent photos and aircraft profiles. Among the interesting information in this book are accounts of the V-VS and Luftwaffe activity during the soviet winter offensive, the airlifts at Kholm and Demyansk (with some very interesting observations the german leadership ought to have studied closer), the soviet attempt to resupply the trapped Second Assault Army at Lyuban and the air campain against Sevastopol. The authors tries to give an impartial account on the events from the views of both sides, and I think they accomplish this task well. Few books on the war on the eastern front are so unbiased, and I have read many. For the student of the air war in the east this book is necessary, as air, as bread.
Rating:
Summary: En excellent book!
Review: The second part in the Black Cross/Red Star series focus on the air war between january - june 1942, perhaps the least know phase of the entire air war on the eastern front. Knowledge of the air war on the eastern front has always been scarce in the west, and has mostly been influenced by the german point of view. This is a unfortunate result of the cold war, when access to soviet sources was almost nonexistant. But the cold war is over, and the soviet archives are slowly being opened for western scholars. This book is full of interesting information about the equipment, aircraft, tactics and pilot training of the Luftwaffe and the V-VS (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily, Soviet Military Airforce. The included glossary is excellent!), not to mention the excellent photos and aircraft profiles. Among the interesting information in this book are accounts of the V-VS and Luftwaffe activity during the soviet winter offensive, the airlifts at Kholm and Demyansk (with some very interesting observations the german leadership ought to have studied closer), the soviet attempt to resupply the trapped Second Assault Army at Lyuban and the air campain against Sevastopol. The authors tries to give an impartial account on the events from the views of both sides, and I think they accomplish this task well. Few books on the war on the eastern front are so unbiased, and I have read many. For the student of the air war in the east this book is necessary, as air, as bread.
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