V pekle nebeských výšin: Důstojník Haškova regimentu Kapitán Ludvík Purm (1885-1953) – Rajlich Jiří (2019)

Set against the skies of northern Italy in 1917–1918, this biography follows Captain Ludvík Purm, an officer of Hašek’s regiment, through the turbulent events of the 20th century. Austro-Hungarian Albatros, Berg and Phönix fighters face British Camels and Brisfits alongside Italian Spads and Hanriots in both chivalrous encounters and merciless battles fought high above the blood and mud of the trenches. Seasoned veterans and inexperienced young men confront ambition, courage, fear and cowardice, while escaping a burning aircraft may mean a single desperate solution: a jump without a parachute. Captain Ludvík Purm came from a Czech-German-Jewish background. He spent the first years of the war as an officer on the Serbian, Montenegrin and Italian fronts, then viewed the trenches from above, first as an observer, later as a fighter pilot and commander with increasingly poor prospects of survival. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian army and the break-up of the Habsburg monarchy found him on the Piave as commander of one of only five fighter squadrons in the Austro-Hungarian air force.