The Maginot Line was the last great gun-bearing line of subterranean forts built before World War II. Although it acquired an unjustified reputation as a white elephant, the Maginot Line fulfilled the role for which it was built, allowing the French High Command the opportunity to mass its forces and counter the German invasion. Unfortunately, the French leadership failed to make the most of its assets, with the resulting disastrous outcome. During the 1920s, the French High Command formulated a number of offensive plans to strike at Germany, but by the end of the decade, it switched to defensive plans because of a lack of manpower. Work thus began on the Maginot Line and on other fortifications such as the French Mareth Line in North Africa and the heavy naval coastal defense batteries in Bizerte (Tunisia) and Toulon (France). The authors conclude that the Maginot Line offered the French High Command many opportunities from September 1939 until May 1940. They blame a failed French military doctrine for taking the initiative away from subordinates, laying the groundwork for the disastrous events of 1940 that left the French High Command paralyzed while German forces broke through the weakly held Ardennes.

Seventy-five years after the Battle of Britain, the Few's role in preventing invasion continues to enjoy a revered place in popular memory. The Air Ministry were central to the Battle's valorisation. This book explores both this, and also the now forgotten 1940 Battle of the Barges mounted by RAF bombers.

This story of survival against all odds tells what befell Kurt Pick, an Austrian Jew, after he left his Vienna home and fled the Nazi persecution of his race. He was captured whilst attempting to walk across the German border into Belgium, but escaped and succeeded in being smuggled into Brussels, where he existed in constant fear, freezing cold and near starvation. In the summer of 1939 he was appointed Administrator of a camp for Jewish refugee families at Marneffe, near Brussels, becoming their official link with the outside world. When Germany invaded Belgium, the 600 residents were evacuated and joined the immense tide of refugees clogging the roads. Pick survived the air attacks and reached Avesnes, where he was mistaken for a spy, almost shot, and then nearly lynched by civilians. With the Germans now in occupation, he walked 100 miles back to Brussels. In 1942 he left to become a baker at a boarding school which he found was sheltering many Jews and was being used as a centre for the Resistance. When the Germans raided the school, he bluffed his way out and escaped to Liege. From that point Pick was permanently on the run until the Americans liberated Liege in September 1944. He survived, but was to discover that most of his family had perished.

A compelling and in-depth history of one of the world's greatest armoured warfare commanders, Hermann Balck (1897-1982). During World War II, Balck commanded panzer troops from the front line and led by example, putting himself in extreme danger when rallying his soldiers to surge forward. He fought battles that were masterpieces of tactical operations, utilizing speed, surprise and a remarkable ability to motivate his men to achieve what they considered to be impossible. We follow his journey through the fields of France, mountains of Greece and steppes of Russia. In Greece, through flair and innovative leadership, his soldiers overcame every obstacle to defeat determined Australian and New Zealand soldiers defending the narrow mountain passes. Balck personally led his men to victory in battles at Platamon Ridge on the Aegean coast and in the Vale of Tempe, before entering Athens. This is also the story of a cultured and complex man with a great love of antiquity and classical literature, who nevertheless willingly fought for Hitler's Third Reich while remaining strangely detached from the horrors around him. The book is the result of extensive research of primary and secondary sources, including Balck's battle reports and first-hand accounts written by Allied soldiers who opposed him, panzer division war diaries and campaign assessments, and declassified Pentagon documents.

John Hodgkins was eight years old when his father was drafted into the army and left for Europe for fight in WWII. After his return, his father never spoke much of the war. After his father's death, John opened his father's diary and two boxes of memorabilia.

Most Americans are unaware that Soviet forces detained and imprisoned Japanese soldiers and civilians on a massive scale following World War II. In addition to interning large numbers of Japanese nationals in Soviet-occupied territories, the Red Army deported more than half a million Japanese to labor camps in Siberia and other parts of the USSR. Despite efforts to gain their release, repatriation was not complete until 1956. William Nimmo's book is the first work in English to provide a detailed account of this little-known aspect of the war's aftermath.

War is chaos; an occupying force must bring order out of that chaos. The Allied Occupation of Italy is studied by examining crime, law and order in Sicily and southern Italy, where all forms of Allied and liberated Italian government were used and which also contained Italy's two historically most troublesome areas, Naples and Sicily. Effective society requires law and order to exist; this book examines the behaviour of a million Allied servicemen on the ordinary citizens of Italy, recently 'the enemy', from the nuisance of drunkenness to rape and murder. Many Italian law and order issues were caused by political conflict, land occupations and the poor availability of food and other essentials. The last led to unrest, discontent, a thriving black market, prostitution and a resurgence of crime. All these are examined, using original documents, as are police and Allied performance and the curious absence of the Mafia.

In May 1940, the Netherlands were overrun by German armed forces. The five-day campaign might seem to be a prime example of "Blitzkrieg," which led shortly afterwards to the rapid and unexpected overthrow of France. This book, based on the newest scholarly research, argues that this is too simple a view. Even though the German assault on the Netherlands made use of tanks, aircraft and airborne troops, it was still a classic campaign against a weak opponent in a theater on the margins of "Fall Gelb." In many instances, artillery and infantry were the decisive factors and it is debatable whether the bombing of Rotterdam can be seen as a precursor to the aerial terror campaigns against civilian populations that marked the later stages the Second World War. Contributors are H. Amersfoort, H.W. van den Doel, P.H. Kamphuis, P.M.J. de Koster, C.M. Schulten and J.W.M. Schulten.

While the Netherlands had often been thought of as a champion of racial and ethnic tolerance before and during the Second World War, more than 75% of Dutch Jews were killed and those returning after the war were met with subtle but tough anti-Jewish sentiments as they tried to reclaim their former lives. For most survivors, the negative reactions were unexpected and shocking. Before the war, Dutch Jews had become part of the fabric of Dutch life and society, so the obstacles they faced upon their return were particularly painful and difficult to handle. The sobering picture presented in this book, based on research in archives, survivor's memoirs, and interviews with survivors, examines and chronicles the experiences of repatriated Jews in the Netherlands and sheds light on the continuing uneasiness and sensitivities between Jews and non-Jews there today. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, survivors returned to their home countries not knowing what to expect. In the Netherlands, considered a more tolerant nation, returnees wondered how they would be received by their neighbors; what had happened to their homes, their businesses, and their possessions; and whether or not they would be welcomed back to their jobs or their schools. The answers to many of these questions are now more important than ever, as claims for restitution continue to be made. Hondius shows that survivors returning to the Netherlands were met with a revival in anti-Semitism around the issue of liberation and that many were forced to create two memories of the time: one around the rejoicing and displays of triumph that took place in public and the other around the secret discrimination and cruelty, dealt subtly, inthe private arenas of everyday life. The blinding effect of a long history of generally good Jewish/non-Jewish relations turns out to be a most tragic aspect of the history of the Holocaust and the Netherlands.

A reexamination of Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy, this study challenges prevailing images of Chamberlain as a tragic hero--a man of peace, naively impressed by the dictators, who did his best under difficult circumstances to prepare his country for war. Instead, the author suggests that Chamberlain dominated his government and demonstrated an uncanny ability to manipulate those around him in support of his own personal vision of Britain's national interest. The failure to rearm to a level consistent with imperial obligations presented a formidable problem. The British Government admittedly had no good option available to it; however, Chamberlain was prepared to endure the humiliating consequences of appeasement, even if it meant peace at any price. He did so for personal, political, and prejudicial reasons. Ruggiero argues that, without Chamberlain, British rearmament would have taken a new direction, and such action might have prevented World War II. Relying primarily upon the Chamberlain Papers and Cabinet Records, this account details how and why Chamberlain adopted his chosen course of action, even after all support for his policies fell away as a result of the Munich Crisis. Most studies have concentrated directly on Chamberlain's appeasement policy, and this is the only one that analyzes his role in the rearmament program at length. It also sheds new light on appeasement by illustrating the connection between the policy and Britain's attempts to rearm.

Cutting-edge case studies examine the partisan and anti-partisan warfare which broke out across German-occupied eastern Europe during World War Two, showing how it was shaped in varied ways by factors including fighting power, political and economic structures, ideological and psychological influences, and the attitude of the wider population.

"NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy In "An Army at Dawn"--winner of the Pulitzer Prize--Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in "The Day of Battle," he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the war's most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With "The Day of Battle," Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of history's most compelling military campaigns.

Although we associate the Third Reich above all with suffering, pain and fear, pleasure played a central role in its social and cultural dynamics. This book explores the relationship between the rationing of pleasures as a means of political stabilization and the pressure on the Nazi regime to cater to popular cultural expectations.

James Crossland's work traces the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross' struggle to bring humanitarianism to the Second World War, by focusing on its tumultuous relationship with one of the conflict's key belligerents and masters of the blockade of the Third Reich, Great Britain.

What was life like for ordinary Germans under Hitler? Hitler's Home Front paints a picture of life in Wurttemberg, a region in south-west Germany, during the rise to power and rule of the Nazis. It concentrates in particular on life in the countryside. Many Wurttembergers, while not actively opposing Hitler, carried on their normal lives before 1939, with their traditional loyalties, to region, village, church and family, balancing the claims of Nazism. The Nazis did not kill its own citizens (other than the Jews) in the way that Stalinist Russia did, and there were limits to the numbers and power of the Gestapo and to the reach of the Nazi state. Yet the region could not escape the catastrophic effect of the war, as conscription, labour shortages, migrant labour, bombing, hunger and defeat overwhelmed the lives of everyone.