Poland and the Second World War, 1938–1948

Poland and the Second World War, 1938–1948 PDF

Author: Evan McGilvray

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2019-04-30

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 1473889723

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A detailed chronicle of Poland’s efforts during World War II from beginning to end, by the author of Narvik and the Allies. The invasion of Poland by German forces (quickly joined by their then-allies the Soviets) ignited the Second World War. Despite determined resistance, Poland was quickly conquered but Poles continued the struggle to the very last day of the war against Germany, resisting the occupier within their homeland and fighting in exile with the Allied forces. Evan McGilvray, drawing on intensive research in Polish sources, gives a comprehensive account of Poland’s war. He reveals the complexities of Poland’s relationship with the Allies (forced to accept their Soviet enemies as allies after 1941, then betrayed to Soviet occupation in the post-war settlement), as well as the divisions between Polish factions that led to civil war even before the defeat of Germany. The author narrates all the fighting involving Polish forces, including such famous actions as the Battle of Britain, Tobruk, Normandy, Arnhem, and the Warsaw Rising, but also lesser known aspects such as Kopinski’s Carpathian Brigade in Italy, Polish troops under Soviet command, and the capture of Wilhelmshaven on the last day of the war.

Poland and the Origins of the Second World War

Poland and the Origins of the Second World War PDF

Author: Marek Kornat

Publisher: Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften

Published: 2021-03-11

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 9783631836477

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This monograph deals with Polish foreign policy shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. In tracing the diplomatic activity of foreign minister Józef Beck, it discusses six general problems: (1) the Polish political situation under the pressure of appeasement; (2) the project of Intermarium and efforts to implement it; (3) the action against Czechoslovakia and the conflict with the Soviet Union; (4) the Polish attitude towards the German concept of Gesamtlosung in Germany's relations with Poland; (5) the genesis of the Polish alliance with Great Britain; (6) the Allies' military inaction after Nazi Germany's aggression. In these conditions, Poland made four key decisions: it stood against Czechoslovakia, it rejected German demands, it allied itself with the United Kingdom, and it rejected the Soviet Union's claim for the Red Army to march across Polish lands.

Anders' Army

Anders' Army PDF

Author: Evan McGilvray

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2018-02-28

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1473889758

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Along with thousands of his compatriots, Wladyslaw Anders was imprisoned by the Soviets when they attacked Poland with their German allies in 1939. They endured terrible treatment until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 suddenly put Stalin in the Allied camp, after which they were evacuated to Iran and formed into the Polish Second Corps under Anders command.Once equipped and trained, the corps was eventually committed to the Italian campaign, notably at Monte Cassino. The author assesses Anders performance as a military commander, finding him merely adequate, but his political role was more significant and caused friction in the Allied camp. From the start he often opposed Sikorski, the Polish Prime Minister in exile and Commander in Chief of Polish armed forces in the West. Indeed, Anders was suspected of collusion in Sikorskis death in July 1943 and of later sending Polish death squads into Poland to eliminate opponents, charges that Evan McGilvray investigates. Furthermore, Anders voiced his deep mistrust of Stalin and urged a war against the Soviets after the defeat of Hitler.

The Second World War

The Second World War PDF

Author: Antony Beevor

Publisher: Back Bay Books

Published: 2012-06-05

Total Pages: 829

ISBN-13: 0316084077

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A masterful and comprehensive chronicle of World War II, by internationally bestselling historian Antony Beevor. Over the past two decades, Antony Beevor has established himself as one of the world's premier historians of WWII. His multi-award winning books have included Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945. Now, in his newest and most ambitious book, he turns his focus to one of the bloodiest and most tragic events of the twentieth century, the Second World War. In this searing narrative that takes us from Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939 to V-J day on August 14, 1945 and the war's aftermath, Beevor describes the conflict and its global reach -- one that included every major power. The result is a dramatic and breathtaking single-volume history that provides a remarkably intimate account of the war that, more than any other, still commands attention and an audience. Thrillingly written and brilliantly researched, Beevor's grand and provocative account is destined to become the definitive work on this complex, tragic, and endlessly fascinating period in world history, and confirms once more that he is a military historian of the first rank.

Warsaw 1920

Warsaw 1920 PDF

Author: Steven J. Zaloga

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-05-28

Total Pages: 97

ISBN-13: 1472837282

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The Battle of Warsaw in August 1920 has been described as one of the decisive battles of European history. At the start of the battle, the Red Army appeared to be on the verge of advancing through Poland into Germany to expand the Soviet revolution. Had the war spread into Germany, another great European war would have ensued, dragging in France and Britain. However, the Red Army was defeated by 'the miracle on the Vistula'. This campaign title explores the origins and outcomes of this momentous battle. In May 1920, the Polish Army intervened in war-torn Ukraine, pushing all the way to Kiev, but the Red Army, by now triumphant in most of the theatres of the Russian Civil War, turned its attention to this new threat. By the late summer of 1920, two Soviet armies had advanced into Poland and the overconfident Soviet leadership dreamed of advancing over a prostrate Polish Army into neighbouring Germany to ignite a Communist revolution in the heart of Europe. Thanks to the low density of forces on both sides and the huge distances involved, the conflict was a war of manoeuvre, with a curious mixture of traditional and advanced tactics. Horse cavalry played a dominant role in the fighting, but aeroplanes, tanks, and armoured trains lent the war an air of modernity. This illustrated study explores the war through the lens of the Battle of Warsaw, the turning point when, after a summer of disastrous retreat, the Polish army rallied and repulsed the Red Army at Warsaw and Lwow.

Poland 1939

Poland 1939 PDF

Author: Roger Moorhouse

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2020-07-14

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0465095410

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A "chilling" and "expertly" written history of the 1939 September Campaign and the onset of World War II (Times of London). For Americans, World War II began in December of 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Poland, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's soldiers invaded, followed later that month by Stalin's Red Army. The conflict that followed saw the debut of many of the features that would come to define the later war-blitzkrieg, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate aerial bombing-yet it is routinely overlooked by historians. In Poland 1939, Roger Moorhouse reexamines the least understood campaign of World War II, using original archival sources to provide a harrowing and very human account of the events that set the bloody tone for the conflict to come.

Germans to Poles

Germans to Poles PDF

Author: Hugo Service

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-07-11

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 1107671485

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This book examines the ways Poland dealt with the territories and peoples it gained from Germany after the Second World War.