Mother of Eagles

Book excerpt: Baroness Kunigunde von Richthofen originally published Mein Kriegstagebuch (My War Diary) in 1937, at a time when tales of heroes of the First World War inspired the youth of a country being prepared for a second war. Mother of Eagles is the culmination of the translation of the war diary, along with numerous facts and information not included in the original work. Follow the youth and wartime exploits of Manfred and Lothar, the leading German aces of World War I, through the eyes of their mother and a nation. Letters to the Barronness from each of her sons intially depict the wartime conditions on the ground, and then evolve into vivid details about the exhiliration of the hunt in the air for ever increasing numbers of enemy planes. This book will not only appeal to those interested in the Red Baron and his ace brother, Lothar, but to anyone who is interested in reading of the civilian life in Germany during the Great War.