A documentary history of the war of annihilation Nazi Germany fought against the Soviet Union, its people and the Red Army during World War II.Histories of the German army on the Eastern Front generally focus on battlefield exploits on the war as it was fought in the front line. They tend to neglect other aspects of the army's experience, particularly its participation in the racial war demanded by the leadership of the Reich. This ground-breaking book aims to corre...

By 1944, the overwhelming majority of the German Army had participated in the German war of annihilation in the Soviet Union and historians continue to debate the motivations behind the violence unleashed in the east. Jeff Rutherford offers an important new contribution to this debate through a study of combat and the occupation policies of three frontline infantry divisions. He shows that while Nazi racial ideology provided a legitimizing context in which violence was not only accepted bu...

"The Yankees play such smart baseball that it’s almost as if they beat you wearing tuxedos." -Billy BeaneBaseball has produced more classic quotes than any other sport, by not only the players and managers but by the writers and the fans too. Sports writing legend Roger Angell believed this was the case because in baseball "you have time for an idea, which in many sports you don't have room for."Unlike other baseball quote collections, Ross Bonander'...

The German-Soviet War revises the conflict's generally accepted understanding through case studies, demonstrating the complexity of the war at the local level. The contributors assembled by Jeff Rutherford and Robert von Maier examine the multiplicity of experiences of individuals caught in this savage war, starting with the German war of annihilation launched against Soviet state and society in June 1941.This detailed collection shows tha...

Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 and events on the Eastern Front that same year were pivotal to the history of World War II. It was during this year that the radicalization of Nazi policy -- through both anall-encompassing approach to warfare and the application of genocidal practices -- became most obvious. Germany's military aggression and overtly ideological conduct, culminating in genocide against Soviet Jewry and the decimation of the Soviet population through ...

Brings together geographies and methodologies often kept apart by the difficulties of researching such a broad-ranging topic as the warShots in the Dark offers cutting-edge scholarship across different subfields in World War II history, revealing new insights into how this crucial conflict was planned, experienced, and fought. Twelve chapters demonstrate the broad scope of wartime innovation and how the war functioned as a global turning point, driving cha...

From the author of Bismarck: " A work of simply outstanding scholarship . . . unreservedly recommended for . . . World War II Military History collections" ( Midwest Book Review).The successes of the German Blitzkrieg in 1939-41 were as surprising as they were swift. Allied decision-makers wanted to discover the Germans' secrets, even though only partial, incomplete information was available to ...

This book investigates the anti-Semitic foundations of Nazi curricula for elementary schools, with a focus on the subjects of biology, history, and literature. Gregory Paul Wegner argues that any study of Nazi society and its values must probe the education provided by the regime. Schools, according to Wegner, play a major role in advancing ideological justifications for mass murder, and in legitimizing a culture of ethnic and racial hatred. Using a variety of primary sources, Wegner provi...

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, more than a quarter million Jewish survivors of the Holocaust lived among their defeated persecutors in the chaotic society of Allied-occupied Germany. Jews, Germans, and Allies draws upon the wealth of diary and memoir literature by the people who lived through postwar reconstruction to trace the conflicting ways Jews and Germans defined their own victimization and survival, comprehended the trauma of war and genocide, and struggled to ...

From images of jubilant mothers offering the Nazi salute, to Eva Braun and Magda Goebbels, women in Hitler’s Germany and their role as supporters and guarantors of the Third Reich continue to exert a particular fascination. This account moves away from the stereotypes to provide a more complete picture of how they experienced Nazism in peacetime and at war. What was the status and role of women in pre-Nazi Germany and how did different groups of women respond to the Nazi project in practic...

An in-depth analysis of aircraft carrier battles in WWII and the evolution of carrier operations—from technology and strategy to life among the crew.First built in 1921, the aircraft carrier brought a new dimension to military strategy as the United States entered World War II. How Carriers Fought examines the evolution of carrier operations with a special focus on the conflict in the Pacific between the US Navy and the imperial Japanese fleet.Star...

"Remarkably detailed . . . It is a tribute to Wladyslaw Gnys, the decorated ace pilot, but also to the charming and humble man himself." — Hamilton MagazinePolish pilot Wladyslaw (Wladek) Gnys was credited with shooting down the first two German aircraft of World War II on September 1, 1939. On this day, as Gnys' squadron took off near Kraków to intercept the German invaders, German Stuka pilot Frank Neubert attacked, killing the captain. Wladek, who barel...