World War II

On 8 May 1995, the British prime minister, John Major, referred to the end of World War II as the end of a thirty years’ war; in this, he was correct: both sides saw this war as an attempt to complete a task left undone at the close of the First World War – the show-down which ended European global domination. The Second World War was, however, the ultimate catastrophe of modern history, laying waste the heart and soul of Europe. Here you will find contributions about this conflict, its prelude, conduct, and personalities – excluding non-military Nazi personalities, which are covered under the entry “Third Reich Era.” Also covered are contributions dealing with war crimes (and lies about alleged war crimes) committed in the course of the conflict. This does not include the “Holocaust,” which has a separate entry (and is not a war crime in the strict sense).

Conspiracy and Betrayal around Hitler

Verschwörung und Verrat um Hitler: Urteil des Frontsoldaten. [Conspiracy and Betrayal around Hitler: A Combat Soldier’s Verdict] by Otto Ernst Remer, Brigadier General Retired [Generalmajor a.D.]. Preussisch Oldendorf, Federal Republic of Germany: Verlag K.W. Schlütz, KG, Third Printing, 1984, 336 pages, illustrated, 42.00 DM (about $20 U.S.), ISBN 3-87725-102/1. A few exciting hours after the…

Keeper of Concentration Camps

Keeper of Concentration Camps: Dillon S. Meyer and American Racism, by Richard Drinnon. Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1987, 339 pp., $24.95. ISBN 0-520-05793-7. With the exception of the few months in which Milton Eisenhower ran the program, Dillon S. Meyer, a typical New Deal bureaucrat, was the chief administrator of the WRA, the “War…

Thrusting the Stake into Lemkin’s Bleeding Heart

The Man Who Invented ‘Genocide’: The Public Career And Consequences of Raphael Lemkin, by James J. Martin. Costa Mesa, CA: Institute for Historical Review, 1984, 360pp,$15.95 Hb, $9.95 Pb, ISBN 0-939484-17-X (Hb), 0-939484-14-5 (Pb). Until a historical revisionist conference of three years ago, I had never heard of Raphael Lemkin. It did not surprise me…

The Eastern Front: The Soviet-German War, 1941-45

The Eastern Front: The Soviet-German War, 1941-45 by J.N. Westwood. New York: The Military Press, with maps, photographs, index, 1984, 192pp, $12.95, ISBN 0-517-42314-6. This Spring marked the 40th Anniversary of VE-Day. In the United States, Britain, and other Western countries, there has been much self congratulation about how “we” won the Second World War….

The War Between The Generals / Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy

The War Between The Generals, by David Irving. New York: Congdon and Weed (distributed by St. Martin’s Press), 1981, 446pp, $9.95 Pb, ISBN 0-312-92921-8. Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, by Max Hastings. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984, 368pp, $17.95, ISBN 0-671-46029-3. David Irving first gained the attention of serious students of history…

Dresden 1945: The Devil’s Tinderbox

Dresden 1945: The Devil's Tinderbox by Alexander McKee. New York: E.P. Duffon, Inc., 1982, 1984, with maps, photographs, index, $18.95, ISBN 0-525-24262-7. The destruction of the virtually undefended German city of Dresden by bombers of the Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Force, in mid-February, 1945, remains one of the most controversial episodes of…

Dönitz: The Last Führer

Dönitz: The Last Führer, by Peter Padfield. New York: Harper and Row, 1984, 523pp, $25.00, ISBN 0-06-015264-8. In an appearance on a book-talk show on BBC radio, the author was asked why he had written this book. He replied that it was written at the suggestion of his agent. That is perhaps a clue to…

His Master’s Voice

Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley “Bomber” Harris died on 5 April of this year, at the age of 91. As Air Officer Commanding in Chief Bomber Command from February 1942 until the end of the Second World War, he was in charge of Britain’s massive “area bombing” campaign directed against German cities. At least half a…

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