The commemoration of Germany’s war dead has always been a difficult subject in Germany, but in this stunning photographic feature we look at a range of war memorials to the dead of both the First and Second World War that are to be found the length and breadth of Germany.

WHAT'S IN THIS ISSUE?

LETTERS FROM A LUFTWAFFE FIGHTER ACE
The English-speaking world knows little of Erbo Graf von Kageneck, the 39th recipient of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, but we highlight the young Jagdflieger’s life and aviation career.

ALLIED PERSPECTIVES ON THE A7V
To follow-up our feature in the last Iron Cross magazine, we can now present a detailed series of the first Allied intelligence drawings of what was then the new battlefield monster being faced on the Western Front of 1918.

‘BATTLE OF BRITAIN’
The epic 1969 film Battle of Britain saw the film makers ambitiously telling the story of the 1940 air campaign. We explore how well the role of the Luftwaffe was portrayed in what was a star-studded production.

STAFFELKAPITÄN: LEADERSHIP IN BATTLE
Luftwa¬ffe fighter commanders’ leadership is often judged by prowess in battle and through their ‘kill’ scores, but we look at a di¬fferent measure for combat leadership: the survival of men under their command.

ORDER OF THE RED EAGLE
Some of the most colourful military awards worn during 1914 – 18 were the various state awards of Imperial Germany, and in our occasional series, we take a look at the colourful Order of the Red Eagle.

SPYING FOR SEELÖWE
As the Wehrmacht prepared to invade Britain, an inept spying operation to scout out the ground saw four German spies being put ashore on the Kent coast 1940, the truly remarkable story recounted by Joshua Levine.

NIGHT FIGHTER RITTERKREUZ
Several battle-damaged Knights Crosses exist in private collections and in museums, but not all are genuine. Here, Dietrich Maerz forensically examines one such combat scarred award and declares its provenance to be sound.

SEEADLER
During the First World War, the Imperial German Navy used long range raiding ships. One was the Seeadler, sailed under the command Count Felix von Luckner. Its journey and its captain were to become legendary as Mark Khan explains. 

DIGGING OUT AN ‘EMIL’
The ambitious attempts during the 1970s to recover the wreck of a deeply buried Messerschmitt Bf 109-E, shot down over England in 1940, led to a successful recovery operation as revealed in this illuminating article.

LUFTWAFFE DEATH CARD HISTORY
Researching a commemorative death card to an airman killed during the Battle of Britain led to a voyage of discovery as to that airman’s story. That research is revealed in this issue’s regular ‘Unlocking History’ feature.

OPINION – GERMAN REMEMBRANCE
In this issue’s occasional ‘Opinion’ feature, the German-born journalist and historian, Katja Hoyer, examines the painful and difficult question of remembrance and commemoration for Germany’s war dead.

DAIMLER-KRUPP K-FLAK WAGON
The subject of this issue’s ‘Equipment in Colour’ feature by Richard J Molloy is a First World War view of a Daimler-Krupp K-Flak mobile anti-aircraft truck on the Western Front and posed for the camera with its crew.

JUNKERS 87 STUKA – RECOVERY AND RESTORATION
In our occasional ‘News’ pages, Iron Cross magazine can reveal astonishing news from the United States which will see a Junkers 87 D-5 Stuka that has been recovered from a lake in northern Europe being returned to flight.

REVIEWS
We review a selection of new German military history titles and products and give the accolade ‘Editor’s Choice’ to a stunning new work on the Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger. 

A BULGARIAN EXTRAVAGANCE
Known for his love of glitzy decorations and awards, Herman Göring must have been especially pleased with a wedding gift from Czar Boris III of Bulgaria, highlighted in a pictorial feature by Dietrich Maerz.

THE ERMA EMP44
In our regular ‘Notes from the Armoury’, the Erma EMP44 is featured. Conceived as a cheap and easy-to-manufacture weapon it never went into production. Michael Heidler looks at the only known surviving example.

THE DEMISE OF ‘YELLOW 15’
In our ‘Photos from the Front’ series, Richard J Molloy has produced a dramatic colourisation of a crash-landed Messerschmitt Bf 109 E in France during the summer of 1940, its pilot standing by the battered wreck.

PROPAGANDA LEAFLETS
Our featured leaflet is ‘London Blitzed Again!’, dropped on Allied troops during 1943 to unsettle them and damage morale. The reality of the raids depicted, though, was somewhat at odds with what was depicted.