Description

Great Book by Osprey Publishing. 96 pages
Proclaiming its independence from Czech territory in March 1939, the Slovakian government signed a protection agreement with the German Reich later that same month. The small nation later became Hitlers only ally to join the attack on Poland in September 1939, where its Avia B-534-equipped fighter squadrons claimed their first kills. Slovakias 2nd Fighter Group were involved in the invasion of the Soviet Union right from the start. Despite still flying obsolete B-534 biplanes, the Slovaks still managed to shoot down a number of communist aircraft while defending their ground forces. Equipped with battle-weary Bf 109Es in October 1942, the Slovaks eventually acquired 43 Messerschmitt fighters through to 1944, and these were used by the leading aces. Dubbed the Tatra Eagles, pilots such as Ondrej Dumbala and Jan Reznak would score tallies in double figures in the final 18 months of the war. Fighting as 13.(slow)/JG 52, a staffel within one of the Jagdwaffes leading fighter unit, the Slovaks claimed 215 kills up until pulled out of the frontline in September 1943. A handful of Bf 109G-equipped pilots also fought in mid 1944 in defence of the Slovakian capital, Bratislava. Bulgaria, on the other hand, never declared war on Russia, although it supported German efforts in Yugoslavia and Greece by declaring war on the Western Allies. First seeing action in August 1943 during the American raids on the Ploesti oilfields in neighbouring Romania, Bulgarian fighter pilots of the 6th Fighter Orliak (regiment) used their Bf 109Gs to good effect. For a number of months from late 1943 through to mid-1944, the Bulgarian pilots attempted to defend industrial and military sites within the country from American bombers, and Stoyan Stoyanov and Peta Bochev made ace during this period. By July 1944 the Bulgarian armed forces had surrendered to the Russians.