A gripping history of the Nazi invasion of Poland, the true onset of World War II
“Exemplary...About as good as military history can be.” —Timothy Snyder, New York Times For Americans, World War II began in December 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Europe, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler’s soldiers invaded Poland, followed later that month by Stalin’s Red Army. The conflict that ensued 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.
Winner of the Polish Foreign Ministry History Prize
Shortlisted for the 2020 Wellington Military History MedalRoger Moorhouseis a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Warsaw. The author of several books on World War II history, includingBerlin at War(shortlisted for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize),The Devils’ Alliance,The Forgers, andWolfpack, he lives in the United Kingdom.
“Exemplary...About as good as military history can be. Moorhouse has visited the places he writes about, and understands weaponry, tactics and the structures of the German and Polish armed forces...Like all good histories, Moorhouse's answers an old question and raises a new one.”
Timothy Snyder, New York Times“As Roger Moorhouse relates in
Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II, the short, savage campaign to crush the Poles, who fought against hopeless odds, proved to be ‘al“Á
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