Duel Under the Stars
The Memoir of a Luftwaffe Night Pilot in World War II
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Duel Under the Stars
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Narrated by:
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Steven Crossley
About this listen
Wilhelm Johnen flew his first operational mission in July 1941, having completed his blind-flying training. In his first couple of years he brought down two enemy planes. The tally went up rapidly once the air war was escalated in spring 1943, when Air Marshal Arthur Harris of the RAF Bomber Command began the campaign dubbed the Battle of the Ruhr.
During this phrase of the war Johnen's successes were achieved against a 710-strong force of bombers. Johnen's further successes during Harris's subsequent Berlin offensive led to his promotion as Staffelkapitan (squadron leader) of Nachtjagdgeschwader and a move to Mainz. During a sortie from there, his Bf 110 was hit by return fire and he was forced to land in Switzerland.
He and his crew were interned by the authorities. The Germans were deeply worried about leaving a sophisticatedly equipped night fighter and its important air crew in the hands of a foreign government, even if it was a neutral one. After negotiations involving Göring, the prisoners were released.
Johnen's unit moved to Hungary and by October 1944, his score was standing at 33 aerial kills. His final one came in March the following year, once Johnen had moved back to Germany.
©1956 Richard Bärenfeld Verlag, Düsseldorf and Wilhelm Johnen; copyright 2009 by Verlagshaus Würzburg GmbH & Co. KG; translation copyright 2018 by Greenhill Books; foreword copyright 2018 by James Holland (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Duel Under the Stars
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 21-12-22
Insightful
A cracking audio book which provides a valuable insight into wartime Night Fighting. Great
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Richard Denis Chadwick
- 24-02-23
really enjoyed this book
loved this book, not really into aviation but this was a fascinating listen, glad I listened to it
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 28-10-19
Excellent historical document
Well read, easy to understand on any level of listener and very informative.
A solid description of the evolving cat and mouse between the Luftwaffe and Bomber Command.
I highly recommend this title.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Siko
- 13-06-23
Brilliant authentic and well read memoir!
This is an excellent memoir from the other side - a few minor errors due no doubt to not all of the information being accessible relatively soon after the war ended when the book was written. Otherwise this is a brilliant read.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Ms. Kate E. Foster
- 12-01-23
Engaging accounts of brave men
Interesting to hear the account of the air war from the German prospective. Brave men who were in reality little different from the allied airmen, doing their perceived duty to save their motherland
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 19-07-24
Humanity
I didn’t like the fact that so many good people died including my uncle . Most people are decent, it’s some leaders and politicians that are responsible. Thank you all in our armed forces for for my freedom .
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Fox 3 Simulations
- 05-06-23
Brilliant and Different - A Night Fighter
The narrator having a very upper British accent makes for an interesting choice, and in my view a clever choice. it's impossible to tell the author apart from his British pilot counterparts. Swap the aircraft model numbers and city names, you'd never know... and that's the point, and perhaps points to why the adversarial respect between pilots. Those looking for a guy supporting national socialism, or wanting a guy apologising for stuff he didn't do, speaking out against his country will be disappointed, this is a night fighter pilots memoirs, and that's all, and it's brilliant. I knew nothing at all about fighter planes at night, and it was always a mystery to me what exactly went on after sun down. I'm very glad I listened, and had no idea they already had a radar, and early versions of chaff. Having the cover of night, I very much got the impression despite losses, there were no where near as many friends lost as most other German ww2 memoirs, which makes for a much easier listen than most German ww2 memoirs, something I have struggled with in past. one of the best catalogue included audio books I've heard
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- enrish J
- 03-07-24
War story delivered in such a humane way.
Remarkable. Never seen a war story told in such a humane way. Very engaging
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- AdamM
- 01-09-24
Excellent story of war from the other side
If you're interested in the history of night-fighting aircraft this is a must listen. Very well read and an exciting but also poignant story of German night fighting aircraft especially the ME 110.
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- YM
- 22-04-20
A good view from the other side
Ive not listened to many accounts from the Luftwaffe side of the war and it is a good story of the challenges they faced.
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