MESSERSCHMITTS OVER SICILY

Major (later General) Johannes Steinhoff tells of his fighter unit's battles against superior Allied air forces supporting the invasion of Sicily in 1944. George Guidall's reading gives the impression we're listening to the tired author telling his own story, emphasizing not heroics, but the cynical activities of men required to do the impossible under threat of court-martial. The powerful language and Guidall's expert use of first-person narrative make Steinhoff's lectures on fighter tactics and his opinions on the blundering of the German high command as interesting as the sections on actual combat. W.W.G. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 93]