Soldiers disguised as a herd of cows, cork bath mats for troops crossing streams and a tank with a piano attachment for camp concerts are just some of the absurd inventions to be found in this book of cartoons designed to keep spirits up during the Second World War. These intricate comic drawings poke gentle fun at both the instruments of war and the indignity of the air-raid shelter in Heath Robinson's inimitable style.

They called themselves Legionnaires of the Waffen SS, the new European Army. They came from all nations of Europe, and they were wearing the same uniform to fight for the same cause: fighting the strong Russian Armed Forces. Almost one million of these young men fought next to the Wehrmacht during WWII. It was during this era that the ideal of a united Europe was born. There is no other period in history that has been documented like the 6 years that ranged from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the capitulation in Berlin in 1945. They left their homes, families, and friends with their heart full of joy and pride. They had to endure extreme weather from +40 to -50 while fighting on several fronts. They were battle hardened because of this. They became good soldiers because they knew how to survive in any situation. These young men were prepared to give their lives for Germany and, in their eyes, for a better Europe.

The mass of available data about World War II has never been as large as it is now, yet it has become increasingly complicated to interpret it in a meaningful way. Packed with cleverly designed graphics, charts and diagrams, World War II: Infographics offers a new approach by telling the story of the conflict visually. Encompassing the conflict from its roots to its aftermath, more than 50 themes are treated in great detail, ranging from the rise of the Far Right in pre-war Europe and mass mobilization, to evolving military tactics and technology and the financial and human cost of the conflict. Throughout, the shifting balance of power between the Axis and the Allies and the global nature of the war and its devastation are made strikingly clear.

Crime, Regulation and Control during the Blitz looks at the social effect of bombing on urban centres like Liverpool, Coventry and London, critically examining how the wartime authorities struggled to regulate and control crime and offending during the Blitz. Focusing predominantly on Liverpool, it investigates how the authorities and citizens anticipated the aerial war, and how the State and local authorities proposed to contain and protect a population made unruly, potentially deviant and drawn into a new landscape of criminal regulation. Drawing on a range of contemporary sources, the book throws into relief today's experiences of war and terror, the response in crime and deviancy, and the experience and practices of preparedness in anticipation of terrible threats. The authors reveal how everyday activities became criminalised through wartime regulations and explore how other forms of crime such as looting, theft and drunkenness took on a new and frightening aspect. Crime, Regulation and Control during the Blitz offers a critical contribution to how we understand crime, security, and regulation in both the past and the present.

How big is Germany's Air Force? Of what is it capable? Is Hitler preparing for battle? Will Germany wage and air-war? These questions, and many more, are answered in this book. Concisely, employing a lucid style which will be refreshing to American readers, Herr Lehmann-Russbueldt states the case of Hitler's rapidly growing air corps. First-hand information is divulged, unassailable facts are presented, and everyone-students of international affairs or not-will lay down this book with a greater knowledge and a truer realization of the martial situation prevelant in Germany under Der Fuehrer.

More than 150,000 American Jews served in the air war during World War II. Despite acts of heroism and commendations, they were subject to bigotry and scorn by their fellow servicemen. Jews were considered disloyal and cowardly, malingering in the slanderous (and non-existent) ""Jewish Quartermaster Corps"" or sitting out the war in easy assignments. Based on interviews with more than 100 Jewish air veterans, this oral history features the recollections of pilots, crew members and support personnel in all theaters of combat and all branches of the service, including Jewish women of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. The subjects recall their combat experiences, lives as POWs and anti-Semitism in the ranks, as well as human interest stories such as encounters with the Tuskegee airmen.

On June 22, 1941, Germany launched the greatest land assault in history on the Soviet Union, an attack that Adolf Hitler deemed crucial to ensure German economic and political survival. As the key theater of the war for the Germans, the eastern front consumed enormous levels of resources and accounted for 75 percent of all German casualties. Despite the significance of this campaign to Germany and to the war as a whole, few English-language publications of the last thirty-five years have addressed these pivotal events. In Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East, Stephen G. Fritz bridges the gap in scholarship by incorporating historical research from the last several decades into an accessible, comprehensive, and coherent narrative. His analysis of the Russo-German War from a German perspective covers all aspects of the eastern front, demonstrating the interrelation of military events, economic policy, resource exploitation, and racial policy that first motivated the invasion. This in-depth account challenges accepted notions about World War II and promotes greater understanding of a topic that has been neglected by historians.

Sir Ernest Edward 'Weary' Dunlop was the type of rare individual who inspires others to impossible feats by example. Born and raised in Victoria, Australia, he qualified as a pharmacist and surgeon. When World War II broke out, he was appointed a surgeon to the Emergency Medical Unit, spending time in Greece and Africa before he was transferred to Java. As commanding officer and surgeon in the POW camps of the Japanese, he became a legend to thousands of Allied prisoners whose lives were saved with meager medical supplies. In those camps, at great personal risk, he recorded the deprivation and despair of the men under his command. When Weary's secret War Diaries were published in 1986, they became a best seller overnight and Sue Ebury's biography, written with his total cooperation, was released with similar success in 1994, ten months after he died. New information and time to consider the impact of Weary's life on Australian society, in schools, institutions and homes across the nation, have showed a need for this new, illustrated edition. This is new, fully updated illustrated edition of the 1994 bestseller. Original biography was written with the full cooperation of its subject. It covers Weary's remarkable life from his early childhood and medical training, to his experiences as a prisoner of war on the notorious Thai-Burma railway, to his later distinguished career as a surgeon and humanitarian. It features 100 black and white images throughout the text, including photographs, maps and drawings.

World War II is one of the first conflicts to be extensively recorded in detail by both combatants and journalists, and many iconic photos of the fighting and battlefields have been passed down to us today. But how do these battlefields look now, following the extensive rebuilding of the postwar era? Featuring 75 battlefield sites divided by wartime theatre, World War II Battlefields allows the reader to explore well-known battle locations today and compare them to images captured during the height of the conflict. Examine the huge concrete bunker at Fort Eben Emael, Belgium, captured by German glider troops in May 1940 and still intact today; see the beaches at Tarawa atoll, a scene of fierce fighting between the US Marines and the Japanese defenders in 1943; or the streets of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the centre of a bloody battle between the II SS Panzer Korps and the Red Army; explore the Norman village of Villers-Bocage, where a few German Tiger tanks halted the advance of the British 7th Armoured Division a week after the D-Day landings; see the twin-medieval towers of the bridge at Remagen on the Rhine river, made famous in photos and movies; see the dozens of Japanese ships sunk in Truk Lagoon following comprehensive American air attacks, and today a popular dive site; and examine Monte Cassino monastery in Italy, destroyed by Allied aerial bombing and since completely rebuilt as a place of pilgrimage.

When American troops arrived in Paris to help maintain order at the end of the Second World War they were, at first, received by the local population with a sense of euphoria. However, the French soon began to resent the Americans for their display of wealth and brashness, while the US soldiers found the French and their habits irritating and incomprehensible. To bridge the cultural divide, the American generals came up with an innovative solution. They commissioned a surprisingly candid book which collated the GIs' 'gripes' and reproduced them with answers aimed at promoting understanding of the French and their country. The 'gripes' reveal much about American preconceptions: 'The French drink too much', 'French women are immoral', 'The French drive like lunatics ', 'The French don't bathe', 'The French aren't friendly' are just some of the many complaints. Putting the record straight, the answers cover topics as diverse as night-clubs, fashion, agriculture and sanitation. They also offer an unusual insight into the reality of daily life immediately after the war, evoking the shortage of food and supplies, the acute poverty and the scale of the casualties and destruction suffered by France during six years of conflict. Illustrated with delightfully evocative cartoons and written in a direct, colloquial style, this gem from 1945 is by turns amusing, shocking and thought-provoking in its valiant stand against prejudice and stereotype.

The fall of 2016 saw the release of the widely popular First World War video game Battlefield 1. Upon the game's initial announcement and following its subsequent release, Battlefield 1 became the target of an online racist backlash that targeted the game's inclusion of soldiers of color. Across social media and online communities, players loudly proclaimed the historical inaccuracy of black soldiers in the game and called for changes to be made that correct what they considered to be a mistake that was influenced by a supposed political agenda. Through the introduction of the theoretical framework of the 'White Mythic Space', this book seeks to investigate the reasons behind the racist rejection of soldiers of color by Battlefield 1 players in order to answer the question: Why do individuals reject the presence of people of African descent in popular representations of history?

The true story of a woman's incredible journey into the heart of the Third Reich to find the man she loves. When the Gestapo seize 20-year-old Olga Czepf's fiance she is determined to find him and sets off on an extraordinary 2,000-mile search across Nazi-occupied Europe risking betrayal, arrest and death. As the Second World War heads towards its bloody climax, she refuses to give up - even when her mission leads her to the gates of Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps...Now 88 and living in London, Olga tells with remarkable clarity of the courage and determination that drove her across war-torn Europe, to find the man she loved. The greatest untold true love story of World War Two.