Iron Cross Magazine

S-BOOTE SLAUGHTER
The S-Bootsflottillen on the Channel coast waged a bloody war of attrition against the Allies during 1944, inflicting notable casualties and suffering irreplaceable losses. Tony Holmes and Gordon Williamson chronicle the fighting that took place from January to early September, when all S-Boote were finally forced to flee French ports.

HITLER’S VALKYRIES
Courageous, ambitious and unconventional, Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg made their names as pioneering test pilots in Hitler’s Germany. As leading historian Clare Mulley reveals, although their lives frequently overlapped, they could not have been more different.

SEASIDE JABOS
Fighter-bombers of the Luftwaffe’s Jagdbomber (Jabo) ‘tip and run’ force targeted Eastbourne, on Britain’s south coast, numerous times in 1942–43, inflicting considerable damage to property and causing civilian loss of life. Andy Saunders takes a detailed look at these attacks.

PIONEERING PANZERTRUPPE
On 1 September 1939, German troops crossed the eastern border into Poland, thus starting the Second World War. The young Panzertruppe played a crucial role in the German plans for this campaign. Thomas Anderson describes the then groundbreaking concept of tank divisions and the interaction of all sub-units at the tactical level.

WILL THE REAL VON BUTTLAR PLEASE STAND UP
Horst Julius Ludwig Otto, Freiherr Treusch von Buttlar Brandenfels was the longest serving Zeppelin commander of the First World War, and the only one to be awarded the ‘Blue Max.’ Considered a hero in Germany, he claimed to have flown a number of successful raids. The only thing is, he lied, as Zeppelin expert Ian Castle explains.

THE KAISERPREIS SCANDAL
When a German regiment cheated at a shooting competition in 1912, it led to scandal within the Imperial German forces prior to the First World War. Graham Rumney reveals the repercussions that followed, along with the fate of those involved.