General Wladyslaw Sikorski was the Head of the wartime Polish Government and Polish Commander-in-Chief, 1939-1943. Sikorski rose to prominence in Poland between 1910 and 1918 as part of the movement towards Polish independence, achieved in 1918. In 1920 Sikorski was largely responsible for the defeat of the Red Army. In 1926 he fell from favour following a military coup. During this fallow period, 1926-1939, Sikorski travelled, mainly in France. He also wrote influential military-science treatises.
In September 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and annexed Poland. Sikorski, his military offices refused by the Polish Government, fled to Romania. There he was intercepted by the French ambassador to Poland and taken to Paris where he established a Polish Government-in-Exile and rebuilt the Polish Army. In May 1940 France was overrun by Germany. Sikorski removed himself and his government to London. There he began to re-build the Polish army largely lost in France.
Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Sikorski was forced by the British Government to accept the Soviets as allies. This led to a larger Polish army being formed in the Soviet Union and sent to the Middle East, commanded by General Anders who was to become a thorn in Sikorski’s side. By 1943, the two men were clearly enemies. Sikorski died in an air crash off Gibraltar. The cause has never been satisfactory established.
The very name Stalingrad has become synonymous with military folly and political arrogance. Its capture by the Wehrmacht was a crushing defeat, both militarily and politically, for the Red Army. The 6th Army was a highly experienced key element of Army Group South. In late June 1942 it rolled eastwards as part of the summer offensive to capture the vital oilfields of Baku and secure the city on the Volga that bore the name of the Soviet leader.
The 6th Army was the acme of German military might and on paper it should have easily overwhelmed the defenders of Chuikov’s 62nd Army. However its commander, General Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus, lacked field experience. His army would pay the price. Stalingrad was a new type of battlefield and it would test the mettle of attacker and defender to the very limit, all the while the thermometer plunged.
This Battle Craft title also looks at four pieces of military hardware that were involved in these legendary battles. Innumerable T-34’s, which often rolled off local assembly lines unpainted and straight into battle took on the Stug III assault gun as it supported troops fighting for mere meters of territory. Overhead, in the frigid air, deadly V, Ju87 Stuka and Yak 9s, were locked in battle for air superiority over the shattered remains of a once vibrant city.
The Quartermaster section provides the modeller with an insight into the development and operational use of the four chosen vehicles and aircraft that were involved in the Battles of El Alamein. A selection of historical and contemporary photos and illustrations feature alongside stunning showcase builds, providing the modeller with subjects to whet the creative appetite. It also features details of model kits and extras that can really help the modeller bring military history to life.
This inspiring book examines the often incredible and nearly always tragic examples of Jewish resistance in ghettos and concentration camps during the Nazis 'Final Solution'. It shows that the Warsaw Uprising in Poland during April to May 1944 was not the only occasion of defiant opposition. Throughout the Nazis' extermination programme Jews and other prisoners fought back against their murderers, often with stunning results.
The Germans were nearly always taken by surprise by the sudden emergence of armed Jewish resistance and often paid dearly. This happened in ghettos and concentration campos (including Treblinka, Auschwitz, Syrels and Sobibor) throughout Poland and the Ukraine. Some Jews tried to stop the machinery of the Holocaust by rising up and destroying the gas chambers while others bravely tried to take over an extermination camp and escape en masse.
In virtually every case the brave men and women who volunteered to fight back paid with their lives. Importantly these men and women are not just portrayed as victims but also as brave and resourceful fighters and resisters against their tragic fate.These are stories that are uplifting, inspiring and often profoundly moving.
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