One of the most important, and yet least publicised, components of the front-line Luftwaffe was the Schlacht, or ground attack, arm. This book details the Schlacht units who were in the thick of the fighting from the first day of the war until the last.

They played a vital part in the heady successes of the early Blitzkrieg campaigns and went on to perform an equally essential role in the dark hours of last ditch defence and ultimate defeat. In between, they fought in all defensive battles: on the eastern front at Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin; in the west, by night, over Normandy, the Ardennes and the Rhine.

John Weal is Osprey's primary Luftwaffe author and artist. He has written, illustrated and/or supplied artwork for several titles in the Aircraft of the Aces series. He owns one of the largest private collections of original German-language literature from World War 2, and his research is firmly based on this huge archive.