The true and heroic story of American POWs' daring escape from a Nazi concentration camp. In this little-known story from World War II, a group of American POW camp leaders risk everything to save hundreds of fellow servicemen from a diabolical Nazi concentration camp. Their story begins in the dark forests of the Ardennes during Christmas 1944 and ends at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in the spring of 1945. This appalling chapter of US military history and uplifting Holocaust story deserves to be widely known and understood. Operation Swallow provides a historical, first person perspective of how American GIs stood up against their evil SS captors who were forcing them to work as slave laborers. A young GI is thrust into a leadership position and leads his fellow servicemen on a daring escape. It is a story filled with courage, sacrifice, torture, despair, and salvation. A compelling narrative-driven nonfiction book has not been written that takes the reader deep into the dark story of Operation 'Swallow' and Berga Concentration Camp--until now. Written from personal testimonies and official documents, Operation Swallow is a tale replete with high adventure, compelling characters, human drama, tragedy, and eventual salvation, from the pen of a master of the modern military narrative.

Modernism and the Architecture of Private Life offers a bold new assessment of the role of the domestic sphere in modernist literature, architecture, and design. Elegantly synthesizing modernist literature with architectural plans, room designs, and decorative art, Victoria Rosner's work explores the collaborations among modern British writers, interior designers, and architects in redefining the form, function, and meaning of middle-class private life. Drawing on a host of previously unexamined archival sources and works by figures such as E. M. Forster, Roger Fry, Oscar Wilde, James McNeill Whistler, and Virginia Woolf, Rosner highlights the participation of modernist literature in the creation of an experimental, embodied, and unstructured private life, which we continue to characterize as "modern."

Expelling the Germans focuses on how Britain perceived the mass movement of German populations from Poland and Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War. Drawing on a wide range of British archival material, Matthew Frank examines why the British came to regard the forcible removal of Germans as a necessity, and evaluates the public and official responses in Britain once mass expulsion became a reality in 1945. Central to this study is the concept of 'population transfer': the contemporary idea that awkward minority problems could be solved rationally and constructively by removing the population concerned in an orderly and gradual manner, while avoiding unnecessary human suffering and economic disruption. Dr Frank demonstrates that while most British observers accepted the principle of population transfer, most were also consistently uneasy with the results of putting that principle into practice. This clash of 'principle' with 'practice' reveals much not only about the limitations of Britain's role but also the hierarchy of British priorities in immediate post-war Europe.

This book examines the establishment of communist rule in Poland from 1944-1950. It examines the fundamental role of nationalism and nationality policy in the consolidation of communist power, acting as a crucial nexus through which different groups were both coerced and able to consent to the new order.

To the people of Great Britain World War II was the deadliest and bloodiest war in history. Never before or since have so many people made such a personal sacrifice in the line of duty. Raiders tells the extraordinary true stories of six of the most daring special operations ever undertaken in warfare and the heroism of the people behind them. Operation Chariot was the most ambitious amphibious raid ever mounted by the British Forces. Attacking the heavily fortified dry dock at St Nazaire in German occupied France, an elite group of commandos battered their way through a maelstrom of bullets and incendiaries. Their boat is punctured by over a hundred shell holes, the dead and wounded lie all around them on the decks, but still their guns are blazing and still they press on... 'Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all others' Winston Churchill

Situated on Europe’s northern periphery, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden found themselves caught between warring powers during World War II. Ultimately, these nations survived the conflict as sovereign states whose wartime experiences have profoundly shaped their historiography, literature, cinema and memory cultures. Nordic War Stories explores the commonalities and divergences among the five Nordic countries, examining national historiographies alongside representations of the war years in canonical literary works, travel writing, and film media. Together, they comprise a valuable companion that challenges the myth of Scandinavian homogeneity while demonstrating the powerful influence that the war continues to exert on national identities.

World War II defined the 20th century and shaped many events, from the decolonization of Africa to the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. This encyclopedia offers a focused overview of this complex and volatile era, the circumstances that led up to war, the underlying causes, its unfolding and consequences. Organized for quick and precise access More than 1300 entries by 150 experts are arranged in six sections for easy reference and consultation. All the key ideas, events, actions, weapons, individuals, and organizations that played vital roles in the war are covered, from the Axis Pact to the Arab League, from the OSS to the Africa Korps, from the Chetniks to the Jedburghs, from the battle of Kursk to Operation Mincemeat, from Bill Donovan to Otto Skorzeny, from Gestapo to SMERSH, from Georgi Zhukov to Jean Leclerc, from the 88 gun to the Norden Bombsight. Covers important neglected subjects The Encyclopedia puts special emphasis on the often-neglected operations in Eastern Europe and Russia. A key section inspects and rates all the major weapons, with handy tables for easy comparison. And in recognition of the first large-scale participation of women in the war, the volume thoroughly documents their individual and unit contributions to the Allied effort. Finally, the encyclopedia discusses battlefield realties that explain, for example, why the airborne drops at Normandy succeeded and the ones at Arnheim failed. A bibliography, glossary, maps, photographs, and weapons and data tables enhance the coverage. Also includes 16 maps.