The Great War's Finest: An Operational History of the German Air Service (Operational History of the Imperial German Air Service);

The Great War’s Finest series is the first detailed operational history of the German Air Service in the Great War. Volume 1 covers Fliegertruppe operations over the Western Front in 1914 in unprecedented detail and reveals that within two to three weeks of the start of the war, German commanders were already dependent on the results of aerial reconnaissance for intelligence about enemy troop movements. In turn, the results of aerial reconnaissance were crucial to high-level decision-making. This book details the results of many individual reconnaissance flights and the specific command decisions based on their observations. Volume 1 contains 35 maps in color, 165 photos and postcards, 72 of them in color, and several color profiles of 1914 German reconnaissance airplanes in its 378 pages. Extensive order of battle information and other data are summarized in appendices. The Great War's Finest is a landmark contribution to the study of aerial operations during WWI.