German Air Force Airlift Operations

Book excerpt: Germany’s imaginative employment of transport aircraft in World War II produced as many innovations as Germany’s use of tanks. Indeed, like the tank, the transport aircraft was closely associated with the Blitzkrieg concept. This relationship was advantageous at the outset of the war, but it became dangerous as the war dragged on and German armies outran their surface supply lines in North Africa and Russia. Then ground commanders began to think of air transport as the means of supply. The history of this trend is one of the main themes of this study, which was first published in its English translation in 1961. Some of the questions embodied in this theme—How much air transport is enough? Under what conditions is an air-supply operation feasible? What are the prerequisites for a successful airlift to encircled ground forces? What are the advantages and limitations of the glider?—are as vital and controversial today as they were during World War II. Generalmajor a. D. Fritz Morzik, who began his military career as a non-commissioned officer in the German Air Service in World War I and ended it as Armed Forces Chief of Air Transport in World War II, is especially well-qualified to write the present study. His long career, spanning two world wars, and his experience with both civilian and military transport aircraft testify to the breadth of his practical knowledge.