Guerrilla Nightmare

Yugoslavia  experienced the terror of the Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber from the first days of war in April 1941, to the end in 1945. The complete story is presented in this new book that includes operational history, first-hand accounts, and rare wartime images of Stuka operations against Partisans. German and Italian Stukas contributed to the Axis powers' quick defeat of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and after the job was done, the dive-bombers left for the Eastern Front. But with growing antifascist resistance in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Croatia, the Stukas returned in 1943 and flew intensive combat missions against Tito's communist, Soviet Union-supported units. At this stage of the war, the dive-bombers caused widespread death and destruction, acting under the premise that "everything is a target," including both legitimate military and purely civilian targets. Only the later appearance of the Western Allies, and subsequently the Red Army, destroyed the Junkers bombers' supremacy over Tito's poorly equipped Partisans.