Publisher's Synopsis
This photographic series examines armed forces from many of the 20th century's greatest conflicts, and gives and insight into the lives of the chief participants. All the photos depict soldiers in the midst of combat, with helpful descriptions of their uniforms, organization and equipment. The 52 page format features more than 130 photos and up to 4 full clour plates by leading illustrators. This volume includes: Photos of German soldiers in the Polish campaign More than 700, 000 troops, almost 3,300 tanks and 2,100 aircraft took part in the invasion of Poland. This massive force were faced by a well trained, but under-equipped Polish Army that consisted of 500,000 troops with a reserve of 3 million men. The invasion began on 1 September 1939. The Poles were completely taken by surprise, but put up a strong resistance and caused the Germans delays and some setbacks. Despite this resistance, it took the Germans only a week to reach Warsaw. The city surrendered on 27 September, after heavy aerial bombardment, and the last Polish forces surrendered on 6 October. Described as the'18-day campaign' by German propagandists, the war in fact took over a month. The Germans lost 16,000 soldiers, 32,000 were wounded and over 670 tanks were destroyed.. Over 66,000 Polish soldiers were killed and 134,000 were wounded. This book was written by Gordon Rottman, a renowned World War II historian, and is backed up by many rare photos of German soldiers in the Polish campaign. The plates were provided by Stephen Andrew, and feature the early war uniform and equipment of the German soldiers.
