Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe has attracted great attention for its rapid development during the 1930's and its initial successes as war began in the late summer of 1939. Its reversals as the war continued, until this vaunted air force lay in ruin, have also gained scrutiny. During that descent from glorious triumph to Wagnerian catastrophe, critics have noted the obvious lack of a reliable four-engine, heavy bomber and the associated shortcomings with which the Luftwaffe was forced to contend. The Third Reich gave itself no choice but to prosecute a war of territorial aggression with essentially a medium bomber capability, albeit well-developed, but still without the advantages of a large, developed heavy bomber force.