Download or read book The Resistance in Western Europe 1940 1945 written by Olivier Wieviorka and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In just three months in 1940, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France fell to the Nazis. The German occupation of Western Europe had begun—but a brave few rose up in defiance. National resistance has long been celebrated in remembrances of World War II, depicted as making significant contributions to the defeat of Nazi Germany. However, the so-called army of shadows drew heavily on the support of London and Washington, a fact often forgotten in postwar Europe. The Resistance in Western Europe, 1940–1945 is a sweeping analytical history of the underground anti-Nazi forces during World War II. Examining clandestine organizations in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy, Olivier Wieviorka sheds new light on the factors that shaped the resistance and its place in the grand scheme of Anglo-American military strategy. While national actors played a leading role in fomenting resistance, British and American intelligence services and propaganda as well as financial, material, and logistical support were crucial to its activities and growth. Wieviorka illuminates the policies of governments in exile and resistance actors regarding cooperation with the British and Americans, pointing to the persistence of national self-interest and long-standing historical tensions. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources and bringing together the political, diplomatic, and military dimensions of the conflict, this book is the first account of the resistance on a continental scale and from a trans-European perspective.

Download or read book A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940 1945 Volume 2 written by Christopher Shores and published by Grub Street Publishing. This book was released on 2014-07-19 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second volume in the seminal series on aerial combat, pilots, and tactics in Libya and Egypt in the middle of World War II. In volume two of this series, historian Christopher Shores begins by exploring the 8th Army’s movements after Operation Crusader when they were forced back to the Gazala area in northeastern Libya, as well as their defeat in June, 1942, the loss of Tobruk, and the efforts of Allied air forces to protect their retreating troops. Shores continues with the heavy fighting that followed in the El Alamein region. This features the Western Desert Air Force and the arrival of the first Spitfires. The buildup of both army and air forces and the addition of new commanders on the ground aided the defeat of Rommel’s Deutsche Afrika Korps at Alam el Halfa, after which came the Second Battle of El Alamein. With the arrival of the United States Army Air Force, the Allied air forces gained dominance over the Axis. Shores recounts the lengthy pursuit of the Italo-German forces right across Libya, including the capture of Tripoli and the breakthrough into Southern Tunisia. This allowed a linkup with other Allied forces in Tunisia (whose story appears in Volume 3). Included with the action are stories of some of the great fighter aces of the Desert campaign such as Jochen Marseille and Otto Schulz of the Luftwaffe, Franco Bordoni-Bisleri of the Regia Aeronautica and Neville Duke, Billy Drake, and “Eddie” Edwards of the Commonwealth air forces. Finally, Shores touches on the Allied and Axis night bombing offensives and the activities of the squadrons cooperating with the naval forces in the Mediterranean.

Download or read book A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940 1945 written by Giovanni Massimello and published by History of the Mediterranean A. This book was released on 2016-07-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third volume in this series returns to November 1942 to explain the background to the first major Anglo-American venture - Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. It deals with the fratricidal combats which followed the initial landings in Morocco and Algeria for several days. It then considers the efforts made - unsuccessfully in the event - to reach northern Tunisia before the Germans and Italians could get there to forestall the possibility of an attack from the west on the rear of the Afrika Korps forces, then beginning their retreat from El Alamein. The six months of hard fighting which followed as the Allies built up the strength of their joint air forces and gradually wrested control of the skies from the Axis, are covered in detail. Then from 1 April 1943 the continuing story of the Western Desert Air Force is told from the point at which Volume 2 ended, as it advanced from the east to join hands with the units in the west. Now also described are the arrivals over the front of American pilots and crew, the P-38 Lightning, the Spitfire IX and the B-17 Flying Fortress - and of the much-feared Focke-Wulf FW 190. The aerial activities over Tunisia became one of the focal turning points of World War II, yet this is frequently overlooked by historians. As before, the air-sea activities, the reconnaissance flights and the growing day and night bomber offensives form a major part of this volume. The mastery of the whole African coastline of the southern Mediterranean by the Allies prepared the way for the invasions of the European territories on the other side of this critical sea during 1943, which will be dealt with in Volume 4.

Download or read book North Africa and Europe 1940 1945 written by Tim Cooke and published by World War II: The Full Story. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a detailed account of the Allies fight against the Germans and Italians in Northern Africa as well as Europe.

Download or read book Alexander Memoirs 1940 1945 written by Alexander of Tunis and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2010-08-19 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After his first meeting with General Alexander in August 1942, Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks wrote that: By repute he was Winston Churchills fire brigade chief par excellence: the man who was always dispatched to retrieve the most desperate situations.Churchill was indeed in need of a fire brigade chief. Allied forces had been chased back across the desert by Rommel. Alexander bought a new hope to the Desert Rats: he instilled them with his own confidence and thought of victory. Under his command, Montgomery was ready to fight and win the battle of El Alamein. Even as his generals drove the enemy from North Africa, Alexander was planning far ahead for Sicily and Operation Husky: the first major seaborne invasion by either side during the war.It was said that before El Alamein the Allies never knew victory, and after El Alamein never knew defeat: much of the credit belongs to Alexander. For decades his contribution to the British efforts in both wars has been overlooked. Here, however, is a comprehensive edition of his personal and candid memoirs, which includes judgments on such men as Montgomery, Patton and Churchill. He also details his role in leading the withdrawal of the 1st Infantry Division at Dunkirk, his dealings with Stilwell in Burma and the bombing of the Monte Cassino abbey.

Download or read book Africa and World War II written by Judith Ann-Marie Byfield and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-20 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers a fresh perspective on Africa's central role in the Allied victory in World War II. Its detailed case studies, from all parts of Africa, enable us to understand how African communities sustained the Allied war effort and how they were transformed in the process. Together, the chapters provide a continent-wide perspective.

Download or read book The Holocaust and North Africa written by Aomar Boum and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Holocaust is usually understood as a European story. Yet, this pivotal episode unfolded across North Africa and reverberated through politics, literature, memoir, and memory—Muslim as well as Jewish—in the post-war years. The Holocaust and North Africa offers the first English-language study of the unfolding events in North Africa, pushing at the boundaries of Holocaust Studies and North African Studies, and suggesting, powerfully, that neither is complete without the other. The essays in this volume reconstruct the implementation of race laws and forced labor across the Maghreb during World War II and consider the Holocaust as a North African local affair, which took diverse form from town to town and city to city. They explore how the Holocaust ruptured Muslim–Jewish relations, setting the stage for an entirely new post-war reality. Commentaries by leading scholars of Holocaust history complete the picture, reflecting on why the history of the Holocaust and North Africa has been so widely ignored—and what we have to gain by understanding it in all its nuances. Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Download or read book Desert War written by Alan Moorehead and published by Penguin Paperbacks. This book was released on 2001 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "North Africa was the site of some of the most volatile battles of World War II. For journalist Alan Moorehead, it was war in its purest form, "a knight's tournament in empty space."" "In Desert War, which includes the complete texts of The Mediterranean Front, A Year of Battle, and The End of Africa, Moorehead writes about what he saw. He recounts with dazzling prose and intimate detail the heroes and legends, the soldiers and prisoners, the military strategies, the strengths and weaknesses of those involved, and portraits of generals Rommel, Montgomery, and Patton. Woven throughout are observations on the landscape, the Mediterranean shores and the vast desert, which inevitably played a role in shaping the battles. For Moorehead, "desert warfare resembled war at sea. Men moved by compass. No position was static. Each truck or tank was as individual as a destroyer."" "Written by a man who lived and breathed the conflict in North Africa during World War II, Desert War is a eyewitness account and an inspired piece of writing by a master of his craft."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Download or read book Destination Casablanca written by Meredith Hindley and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This rollicking and panoramic history of Casablanca during the Second World War sheds light on the city as a key hub for European and American powers, and a place where spies, soldiers, and political agents exchanged secrets and vied for control. In November 1942, as a part of Operation Torch, 33,000 American soldiers sailed undetected across the Atlantic and stormed the beaches of French Morocco. Seventy-four hours later, the Americans controlled the country and one of the most valuable wartime ports: Casablanca. In the years preceding, Casablanca had evolved from an exotic travel destination to a key military target after France's surrender to Germany. Jewish refugees from Europe poured in, hoping to obtain visas and passage to the United States and beyond. Nazi agents and collaborators infiltrated the city in search of power and loyalty. The resistance was not far behind, as shopkeepers, celebrities, former French Foreign Legionnaires, and disgruntled bureaucrats formed a network of Allied spies. But once in American hands, Casablanca became a crucial logistical hub in the fight against Germany--and the site of Roosevelt and Churchill's demand for "unconditional surrender." Rife with rogue soldiers, power grabs, and diplomatic intrigue, Destination Casablanca is the riveting and untold story of this glamorous city--memorialized in the classic film that was rush-released in 1942 to capitalize on the drama that was unfolding in North Africa at the heart of World War II.

Download or read book The French Resistance written by Olivier Wieviorka and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-25 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not and will not go out.” As Charles de Gaulle ended his radio address to the French nation in June 1940, listeners must have felt a surge of patriotism tinged with uncertainty. Who would keep the flame burning through dark years of occupation? At what cost? Olivier Wieviorka presents a comprehensive history of the French Resistance, synthesizing its social, political, and military aspects to offer fresh insights into its operation. Detailing the Resistance from the inside out, he reveals not one organization but many interlocking groups often at odds over goals, methods, and leadership. He debunks lingering myths, including the idea that the Resistance sprang up in response to the exhortations of de Gaulle’s Free French government-in-exile. The Resistance was homegrown, arising from the soil of French civil society. Resisters had to improvise in the fight against the Nazis and the collaborationist Vichy regime. They had no blueprint to follow, but resisters from all walks of life and across the political spectrum formed networks, organizing activities from printing newspapers to rescuing downed airmen to sabotage. Although the Resistance was never strong enough to fight the Germans openly, it provided the Allies invaluable intelligence, sowed havoc behind enemy lines on D-Day, and played a key role in Paris’s liberation. Wieviorka shatters the conventional image of a united resistance with no interest in political power. But setting the record straight does not tarnish the legacy of its fighters, who braved Nazism without blinking.

Download or read book The Routledge Atlas of the Second World War written by Martin Gilbert and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-03 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Routledge Atlas of the Second World War, Martin Gilbert graphically charts the war’s political, military, economic and social history through 257 illuminating maps. The atlas covers all the major events from the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 to the defeat of Japan in August 1945. Focusing on the human – and inhuman – aspects of the war, The Routledge Atlas of the Second World War includes examination of: military, naval and air campaigns on all the war fronts the war on land, at sea and in the air the economic and social aspects of the war the global nature of the war, in armed combat and in suffering the impact of the war on civilians, both under occupation, and as deportees and refugees the aftermath of the war: post-war political and national boundaries; war graves; and the human cost of the war on every continent. This paperback edition includes several updates to existing maps, as well as ten new maps, specially drawn for this edition. The new maps include examinations of Japanese- American and African- American soldiers serving with the United States Army, British women special agents, Belgium at War, and the German occupation of the Channel Islands.

Download or read book The Cambridge History of the Second World War Volume 2 Politics and Ideology written by Richard Bosworth and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-23 with total page 718 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War is often described as an extension of politics by violent means. With contributions from twenty-eight eminent historians, Volume 2 of The Cambridge History of the Second World War examines the relationship between ideology and politics in the war's origins, dynamics and consequences. Part I examines the ideologies of the combatants and shows how the war can be understood as a struggle of words, ideas and values with the rival powers expressing divergent claims to justice and controlling news from the front in order to sustain moral and influence international opinion. Part II looks at politics from the perspective of pre-war and wartime diplomacy as well as examining the way in which neutrals were treated and behaved. The volume concludes by assessing the impact of states, politics and ideology on the fate of individuals as occupied and liberated peoples, collaborators and resistors, and as British and French colonial subjects.

Download or read book Ghost Patrol written by John Sadler and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of D-Day: “an amazing tale of how the world’s very first special force was created specifically for North Africa during WWII” (Books Monthly). The origins of most of the West’s Special Forces can be traced back to the Long Range Desert Group, which operated across the limitless expanses of the Libyan Desert, an area the size of India, during the whole of the Desert War from 1940 to 1943. After the defeat of the Axis in North Africa, they adapted to serve in the Mediterranean, the Greek islands, Albania, Yugoslavia, and Greece. In the process, they became the stuff of legend. The brainchild of Ralph Bagnold, a prewar desert explorer featured in fictional terms in The English Patient, the LRDG used specially adapted vehicles and recruited only men of the right temperament and high levels of fitness and endurance. Their work was often dangerous, always taxing, exhausting, and uncomfortable. They were a new breed of soldier, and the Axis never managed to field a similar unit. Once the desert war was won, they transferred their skills to the Mediterranean sector, retraining as mountain guerrillas, serving in the ill-fated Dodecanese campaign, then in strife-torn Albania, Yugoslavia, and Greece, fighting alongside the mercurial partisans. In addition, the LRDG worked alongside the fledgling SAS and established, beyond all doubt, the value of highly trained Special Forces, a legacy which resonates today. “Genuinely gripping, a tale of eccentrics and their high adventures during very dangerous times.” —Classic Military Vehicle

Download or read book The Second World War written by Antony Beevor and published by Back Bay Books. This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page 848 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book North Africa written by George Joffé and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-14 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: North Africa differs from the Middle East in several significant ways. It was subject to a uniform colonial experience as part of the French empire; its populations are far more culturally homogeneous than those of the Middle East; and, since the Reconquista, it has always been far more susceptible to European influences than has the Middle East. It has thus had a far better basis for regional integration and for effective state formation than has the Middle East itself. In the post-Cold War world, North Africa took on a new significance for Europe as issues of migration and regional trade began to dominate the European agenda. This book, first published in 1993, endeavours to investigate the background to the political developments of modern North Africa. It not only looks at the pre-colonial past but also investigates the effect of the colonial period itself on the regional dimension in view of the creation of the UMA, a confederal regional organisation, in early 1989. The contributors to this volume are all people with long experience of the North African political and historical scene.

Download or read book Air Force Combat Units of World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1961 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Decision to Invade North Africa TORCH written by Leo J. Meyer and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: