The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, marked a critical turning point in the European theater of World War II. The massive landing on France's coast had been meticulously planned for three years, and the Allies anticipated a quick and decisive defeat of the German forces. Many of the planners were surprised, however, by the length of time it ultimately took to defeat the Germans. While much has been written about D-day, very little has been written about the crucial period from August to September, immediately after the invasion. In Ruckzug, Joachim Ludewig draws on military records from both sides to show that a quick defeat of the Germans was hindered by excessive caution and a lack of strategic boldness on the part of the Allies, as well as by the Germans' tactical skill and energy. This intriguing study, translated from German, not only examines a significant and often overlooked phase of the war, but also offers a valuable account of the conflict from the perspective of the German forces.

Author of Nazi Paris, a Choice Academic Book of the Year, Allan Mitchell has researched a companion volume concerning the acclaimed and controversial German author Ernst Junger who, if not the greatest German writer of the twentieth century, certainly was the most controversial. His service as a military officer during the occupation of Paris, where his principal duty was to mingle with French intellectuals such as Jean Cocteau and with visiting German celebrities like Martin Heidegger, was at the center of disputes concerning his career. Spending more than three years in the French capital, he regularly recorded in a journal revealing impressions of Parisian life and also managed to establish various meaningful social contacts, with the intriguing Sophie Ravoux for one. By focusing on this episode, the most important of Junger's adult life, the author brings to bear a wide reading of journals and correspondence to reveal Junger's professional and personal experience in wartime and thereafter. This new perspective on the war years adds significantly to our understanding of France's darkest hour.

For the ordinary people of Nazi Germany, resistance rarely took the form of active political or economically disruptive activity. But a great many people expressed their disgust through jokes and humor. In "Underground Humour in Nazi Germany: 1933-1945," F. K. M. Hillenbrand compiles a collection of jokes, stories and cartoons representing covert popular opposition which took humorous form. Even this was dangerous, as an ill-judged moment of wit could lead to the camps; but the Nazis themselves recognized the impossibility of stopping anti-Nazi jokes.
Although wonderfully entertaining, "Underground Humour in Nazi Germany: 1933-45" is not a joke book, but a serious study of the uses of humor and word play, supplemented always with full translations and explanations when a joke is retold. Hillebrand explains not only how humor could be used subversively in the Third Reich, but also suggests the ways that people resist under any totalitarian conditions, not exclusively Nazi Germany. He emphasizes the importance of humor to societies under stress.
Revealing an important feature of the Third Reich's social history, "Underground Humour in Nazi Germany: 1933-45" is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of 20th century Germany.

The Third Reich and Yugoslavia focuses on economic and political affairs between the Third Reich and Yugoslavia before Germany attacked in April 1941. It observes the relations between the two countries primarily from an economic perspective, with the political dimension forming a backdrop within which the economy operated. Perica Hadzi-Jovancic challenges the conventional scholarly wisdom which recognises economics as mainly being a tool of German foreign policy towards Yugoslavia. Instead, he successfully places economic dealings on both sides within the broader context of both the German economic and financial plans and policies of the 1930s, as well as the existing trading ties between the two countries as they had been developing since the 1920s. At the same time, through detailed analysis of unpublished archival material, Hadzi-Jovancic explores the shared political relations from a new perspective; one from which there is a much deeper understanding of Yugoslavia's motives and the resulting implications for the other great powers and the wider regional framework. The book concludes that, contrary to the traditional view in historiography and despite the dependency of Yugoslavia's foreign trade on the German market at the dawn of the Second World War, Yugoslavia maintained both its economic and political agency in the shadow of the Third Reich. It was only international political developments beyond Yugoslavia's control in the years ahead that lead to a more receptive stance towards German demands.

Nearly sixty years after the end of World War II the Third Reich continues to fascinate both authors and readers. Nazi propaganda, in particular, has been the topic of countless books, as have the personalities involved in the German propaganda machine. Yet, despite all of the efforts in this regard, one aspect of that propaganda study has remained largely unexamined. It is the regime's use of postal materials as a tool for expressing its propaganda message. In this new, profusely illustrated book, Albert L. Moore offers readers an overview of the images and messages that filled the mailboxes of Hitler's subjects and victims. As official documents of Nazi Germany, the stamps, postcards, and even postmarks used during the time provide the reader with an explicit picture of the types of propaganda messages every German was expected to see and act upon on a daily basis. Moore's groundbreaking work helps us to better understand this powerful, yet heretofore unrecognized, weapon in Hitler's propaganda arsenal. This is not merely a book for those interested in stamps or postcards as collectibles, it is a book for those who desire to better understand what it was like to live inside the Third Reich!

On November 26, 1943 the United States sustained its largest loss of troops at sea. Over 2,000 U.S. servicemen were aboard the British troop ship HMT Rohna in the Mediterranean on their way to the China-Burma-India Theater of war. Traveling in a convoy, the Rohna and 23 other ships were attacked by German bombers. After a fierce fight that ended with no ships lost, a single bomber made a final run. Armed with the latest technology (a rocket powered, remote controlled Henschel HS-293 glide bomb), it set its sights on the Rohna. Many men were killed instantly by the direct hit. Rescue ships spent hours pulling survivors from the water. By the time the losses were totaled, 1,015 U.S. servicemen had lost their lives. During a four-year period, author Michael Walsh met with survivors at their annual reunions, sitting with them as they recorded their stories of that night. Rohna Memories: Eyewitness to Tragedy is a repository of their recollections, whenever possible in their own words. Also included are: * Diagrams and photos * Letters home * Witness reports * Tributes by relatives * Lists of survivors and casualties

This volume begins with an investigation of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. It draws upon eye-witness German accounts of what occurred, and supplements these with German archival and detailed Soviet materials. The Soviet government has released extensive amounts of formerly classified archival materials from the period. This material has been incorporated into the maps and text.

In this riveting real-life thriller, Philippe Sands offers a unique account of the daily life of senior Nazi SS Brigadeführer Otto Freiherr von Wächter and his wife, Charlotte. Drawing on a remarkable archive of family letters and diaries, he unveils a fascinating insight into life before and during the war, as a fugitive on the run in the Alps and then in Rome, and into the Cold War. Eventually the door is unlocked to a mystery that haunts Wächter's youngest son, who continues to believe his father was a good man - what happened to Otto Wächter while he was preparing to travel to Argentina on the 'ratline', assisted by a Vatican bishop, and what was the explanation for his sudden and unexpected death?

1992 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the great Pacific naval battles in the Coral Sea and off Midway Island. Occuring within a month of each other, these turning Point engagements brought an end to Japan's military expansion and six months of Allied defeat and retreat in the Pacific. Fought mostly over the ocean by airmen flying primarily from aircraft carriers, the battles were marked on both sides by courage and luck, forewarning and foreboding, skill and ineptitude. In this first book-length, partially-annotated bibliography, Smith provides more than 1,300 citations to the growing literature on these major battles. Materials in seven languages are cited as well as information provided on many of the repositories located in the United States or abroad that have holdings necessary for the continuing reinterpretation of the battles. Following an overview and introduction, the volume contains sections devoted to reference works and sites, general histories, hardware, biography, combatants, and special studies, and separate section for both battles. Access is augmented by author and name indexes. This volume will be a required reference guide for all those concerned with the War in the Pacific and modern military studies.

"Beautifully researched and masterfully told" (Alex Kershaw, "New York Times "bestselling author of "Escape from the Deep"), this is the riveting story of the heroic and tragic US submarine force that helped win World War II in the Pacific.
Focusing on the unique stories of three of the war's top submarines--"Silversides," "Drum," and "Tang"--"The War Below "vividly re-creates the camaraderie, exhilaration, and fear of the brave volunteers who took the fight to the enemy's coastline in World War II. Award-winning journalist James Scott recounts incredible feats of courage--from an emergency appendectomy performed with kitchen utensils to sailors' desperate struggle to escape from a flooded submarine--as well as moments of unimaginable tragedy, including an attack on an unmarked enemy freighter carrying 1,800 American prisoners of war.
The casualty rate among submariners topped that of all other military branches. The war claimed almost one out of every five submarines, and a submarine crewman was six times more likely to die than a sailor onboard a surface ship. But this valorous service accomplished its mission; "Silversides," "Drum," and "Tang "sank a combined sixty-two freighters, tankers, and transports. The Japanese were so ravaged from the loss of precious supplies that by the war's end, pilots resorted to suicidal kamikaze missions and hungry civilians ate sawdust while warships had to drop anchor due to lack of fuel. In retaliation, the Japanese often beat, tortured, and starved captured submariners in the atrocious prisoner of war camps.
Based on more than 100 interviews with submarine veterans and thousands of pages of previously unpublished letters and diaries, "The War Below "lets readers experience the battle for the Pacific as never before.

Winston Churchill described the loss of Singapore as the greatest disaster ever to befall British arms. Louis Allen analyzes the remote political causes of the Japanese campaign, gives an account of the events of the campaign, and then attempts to apportion responsibility for the defeat.

On the night of December 2, 1943, the Luftwaffe bombed a critical Allied port in Bari, Italy, sinking seventeen ships and killing over a thousand servicemen and hundreds of civilians. Caught in the surprise air raid was the John Harvey, an American Liberty ship carrying a top-secret cargo of 2,000 mustard bombs to be used in retaliation if the Germans resorted to gas warfare. After young sailors began suddenly dying with mysterious symptoms, Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Alexander, a doctor and chemical weapons expert, was dispatched to investigate. He quickly diagnosed mustard gas exposure, which Churchill denied. Undaunted, Alexander defied British officials and persevered with his investigation. His final report on the Bari casualties was immediately classified, but not before his breakthrough observations about the toxic effects of mustard on white blood cells caught the attention of Colonel Cornelius P. Rhoads - a pioneering physician and research scientist as brilliant as he was arrogant and self-destructive - who recognized that the poison was both a killer and a cure, and ushered in a new era of cancer research. Deeply researched and beautifully written, The Great Secret is the remarkable story of how horrific tragedy gave birth to medical triumph.

WINNER OF THE MILITARY HISTORY MATTERS AWARD 'Hart is a historian and author at the peak of his powers' Richard van Emden The best way to understand what it was like to fight in the Second World War is to see it through the eyes of the soldiers who fought it. The South Notts Hussars fought at almost every major battle of the Second World War, from the Siege of Tobruk to the Battle of El Alamein and the D-Day Landings. Here, Peter Hart draws on detailed interviews conducted with members of the regiment, to provide both a comprehensive account of the conflict and reconstruct its most thrilling moments in the words of the men who experienced it. This is military history at its best: outlining the path from despair to victory, and allowing us to share in soldiers' hopes and fears; the deafening explosions of the shells, the scream of the diving Stukas and the wounded; the pleasures of good comrades and the devastating despair at lost friends.

"Aurora" is the story of a young school teacher from rural Alabama who ventured to New York where she fell in love with a romantic, young gentleman from old German aristocracy. They marry, have two children, and take a steamer to Germany. In Germany Aurora discovers she is married to an agent engaged in espionage against her country. After a difficult divorce, she gains custody of her children and reestablishes herself within the employment of the American Consulate in Hamburg. In 1941, when the Consulate expelled all employees prior to the U.S. declaration of war against Germany, Aurora leaves for Portugal via Frankfurt with her two children. In route, she is confronted by Gestapo agents and her children are abducted. She returns to Hamburg to fight for the return of her children. With the assistance of a Nazi friend, she locates her children and remains in Hamburg until July 1943 when her home was totally destroyed by the fire storm that killed nearly 45,000 civilians and reduced most of the city to rubble. Aurora's memoir recounts struggles to keep her children and survive the bombardment during Operation Gomorrah.

This is an examination of the response of British policy makers to the collapse of belief in racial superiority, and with it the ideological basis of empire, following the fall of Singapore in 1942. The book studies the Anglo American debate in which British officials, led by Lord Hailey, countered American criticisms of imperial rule by emphasizing economic development and peace keeping as new, non-racial justifications for western authority. These are themes that have retained a powerful resonance in the post-war world.

Great Men in the Second World War provides a new perspective on the role of the individual in history. Paul Dukes selects five Great Men, each in his turn one of the leaders of the three victorious powers, the UK, the USA and the USSR. The identity of the Big Three changed significantly during the last months of the conflict. Roosevelt died in April 1945 and was succeeded by Truman. Churchill lost the general election to Attlee in July. Stalin alone provided continuity throughout the conferences of the Big Three, and immediately beyond. The book explores the power of these individuals, asking such questions as: -To what extent did the leaders exert their own influence and to what extent could they be considered to be spokesmen for their countries? -How significant was it that Truman and Attlee had less colourful personalities than Roosevelt and Churchill? -Was Stalin uniquely bad while the others were good? Drawing in particular on the record of their interaction at the Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, but also making use of other sources including novels as well as works of history, Paul Dukes sheds light on both the major statesmen involved and the nature of the Second World War. This is a book that will be useful for students of the Second World War and anyone with an interest in the role of individuals in history.

During World War II, agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) infiltrated Japanese-occupied Malaya. There they worked with Malayan guerrilla groups, including the communist-sponsored Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), regarded as the precursor of the communist insurgent army of the Malayan Emergency. This book traces the development of SOE's Malayan operations, and analyses the interactions between SOE and the various guerrilla groups. It explores the reasons for and the extent of Malay disillusionment with Japanese rule, and demonstrates how guerrilla service acted as a training ground for some later Malay leaders of the independent nation. However, the reports written about the MPAJA by SOE operatives just after the war failed to draw out the likely future threat posed by the communists to the returning colonial administration. Rebecca Kenneison shows that the British possessed a wealth of local information, but failed to convert it into active intelligence in the period prior to the Malayan Emergency. In doing so she provides new insights into the impact of SOE on Malayan politics, the nature of Malayan communism's challenge to colonial rule, and British post-war intelligence in Malaya.

With insightful analysis, factual contextual information, and illuminating historical documents, this book provides a detailed, but broad perspective on the most destructive event in history. The literature analyzed in this book includes that of novelists and poets such as Joseph Heller, Norman Mailer, Irwin Shaw, Kurt Vonnegut, William Styron, Richard Wilbur, James Dickey, Paul West, and Bette Green. Along with interviews with these literary luminaries that personalize the war and help to make connections between the literature and the actual experiences of those involved, Meredith also provides rare historical documents that enhance the reader's understanding of the military and political strategies of the major forces of the war.

Each chapter provides a literary analysis of the most relevant literature for students on the topic of that chapter, followed by a historical overview of the aspect of the war that will aid the student to understand the historical context of the literature. Primary documents, especially interviews and memoirs, will help students to build bridges between history and the fictional accounts they read. Each chapter is followed by topics and questions for class discussion, suggestions for student papers, and a selected bibliography. This comprehensive casebook will be valuable for interdisciplinary study of World War II and the literature most frequently taught in high school English and history classes.

What did Franklin Delano Roosevelt know about the Holocaust and what did he do to try to prevent it? This question has proven to be one of the thorniest inquiries ever made into the progress of FDR's presidency. In 1993, some of the world's most outstanding scholars of the Holocaust and of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency came together to discuss this still explosive subject. This collection of original pieces and anthologized articles grew out of the discussions held during two successive days at the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York. The contributors take a hard look at Roosevelt's reaction to the Holocaust, offering a timely and thought-provoking study that will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in either the FDR presidency or the Holocaust.

This book is the only full-scale account of the strategic air offensive against Germany published in the last twenty years, and is the only one that treats the British and the Americans with parity. Much of what Levine writes about British operations will be unfamiliar to American readers. He has stressed the importance of winning air superiority and the role of escort fighters in strategic bombing, and has given more attention to the German side than most writers on air warfare have. Levine gets past a simple account of what we did to them and describes the target systems and German countermeasures in detail, providing exact yet dramatic accounts of the great bomber operations--the Ruhr dams, Ploesti, and Regensburg and Schweinfurt. The book is broad-guaged, touching many matters, from the development of bombing doctrine before the war to the technical development of the Luftwaffe and the RAF, jets and V-weapons, to the role of the heavy bombers in supporting land and sea operations.

Levine stresses the impact of bombing on the war, and generally endorses the strategic air campaign as worthwhile and effective. But he concludes that many mistakes were made by the Allies--both the British and the Americans--in tactics, the development of equipment, and in the selection of targets. Levine sees strategic bombing as a powerful tool that was often misused, particularly when the doctrine of area bombing flourished. Scholars, students, and buffs interested in World War II and/or the history of aviation will find this study of great interest.

A Foreign Affairs Book of the Year A Spectator Book of the Year "Insightful...a deft, textured work of intellectual history." -Foreign Affairs "A timely insight into how memories and ideas about the second world war play a hugely important role in conceptualizations about the past and the present in contemporary China." -Peter Frankopan, The Spectator For most of its history, China frowned on public discussion of the war against Japan. But as the country has grown more powerful, a wide-ranging reassessment of the war years has been central to new confidence abroad and mounting nationalism at home. Encouraged by reforms under Deng Xiaoping, Chinese scholars began to examine the long-taboo Guomindang war effort, and to investigate collaboration with the Japanese and China's role in the post-war global order. Today museums, television shows, magazines, and social media present the war as a founding myth for an ascendant China that emerges as victor rather than victim. One narrative positions Beijing as creator and protector of the international order-a virtuous system that many in China now believe to be under threat from the United States. China's radical reassessment of its own past is a new founding myth for a nation that sees itself as destined to shape the world. "A detailed and fascinating account of how the Chinese leadership's strategy has evolved across eras...At its most interesting when probing Beijing's motives for undertaking such an ambitious retooling of its past." -Wall Street Journal "The range of evidence that Mitter marshals is impressive. The argument he makes about war, memory, and the international order is...original." -The Economist

"Choice" Outstanding Academic Title 2003

"Schrijvers' book is a valuable addition ot the literature on the war in the Pacific."
-- "H-Net Book Review"

"Schrijvers builds upon earlier works and successfully goes beyond them to provide a scholarly account of the full range of American experiences in the Pacific and Asian theatres. He makes excellent use of diaries, letters, training manuals, and official reports. The book is an impressive scholarly achievement. Schrijvers's vivid portrayal of the American experience in the war against Japan permits us to see that experience in a broader historical context and reveals patterns of thought and action that are enduring features of the American character."
--"The International History Review"

"One cannot read this volume without coming away with a fresh way of thinking about the subject. Peter Schrijvers has broadened our perspective of the sociology of the American fighting man in the Second World War."
--"War In History""Schrijvers' book can increase the understanding of the Pacific War amoung students and scholars alike."
-- "Journal of Asian Studies"

"This terrifying, remarkable work examines the attitudes, perceptions, and behavior of U.S. fighting men in the Pacific theatre. . . . Among the most unsettling books I've read in years."
--"The Atlantic Monthly"

"Schrijvers's linking of that frustration to the massive destruction unleashed by American armed forces in the Pacific War is provocative."
--"Multicultural Review"

"A rich and compelling cultural and social history of American servicemen and -women serving in Asia and the Pacific during World War II."
-- "The Journal of American History"

"Just when it appeared that little remained to be said about the Pacific War, Schrijvers produces the best social history of the conflict to date...This is an important book, not only about WWII but also about the nature of war itself...Highly recommended."
--"Choice"

Even in the midst of World War II, Americans could not help thinking of the lands across the Pacific as a continuation of the American Western frontier. But this perception only heightened American soldiers' frustration as the hostile region ferociously resisted their attempts at control.

The GI War Against Japan recounts the harrowing experiences of American soldiers in Asia and the Pacific. Based on countless diaries and letters, it sweeps across the battlefields, from the early desperate stand at Guadalcanal to the tragic sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at war's very end. From the daunting spaces of the China-India theater to the fortress islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Schrijvers brings to life the GIs' struggle with suffocating wilderness, devastating diseases, and Japanese soldiers who preferred death over life. Amidst the frustration and despair of this war, American soldiers abandoned themselves to an escalating rage that presaged Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The GI's story is, first and foremost, the story of America's resounding victory over Japan. At the same time, however, the reader will recognize in the extraordinarily high price paid for this victory chilling forebodings of the West's ultimate defeat in Asia--and America's in Vietnam.

Formed in July 1940 for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering behind enemy lines, the Long Range Desert Group was the first British special force unit. In no time the LRDG earned itself an enviable reputation for deep penetration patrols into German and Italian held territory. Its successes on prolonged missions into harsh terrain and under extreme climatic conditions were out of all proportion to its size. Wide-ranging military skills, including exceptional navigation techniques, and the highest standards of discipline and leadership were required from all ranks. Many of the previously unpublished and well captioned images in this comprehensive and well researched book come from the collections of LRDG veterans. They show the weapons, equipment, uniforms and insignia used and, together with personal accounts and operational reports, bring to life the extraordinary achievements of this legendary unit. The result is a fascinating record of the LRDG's contribution to the Allied victory in North Africa.