Now available in paperback, this fascinating title from renowned World
War II historian Robert Forczyk tells the story of Case White, the
German invasion of Poland in 1939.
The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, designated as Fall
Weiss (Case White), was the event that sparked the outbreak of World
War II in Europe. The campaign has widely been described as a textbook
example of Blitzkrieg, but it was actually a fairly conventional
campaign as the Wehrmacht was still learning how to use its new Panzers
and dive-bombers.
The Polish military is often misrepresented as hopelessly obsolete and
outclassed by the Wehrmacht, when in fact it was well-equipped with
modern weapons and armor. Indeed, the Polish possessed more tanks than
the British and had cracked the German Enigma machine cipher. Though the
combined assault from Germany and the Soviet Union defeated Poland, it
could not crush the Polish fighting spirit and thousands of soldiers and
airmen escaped to fight on other fronts. The result of Case White was a
brutal occupation, as Polish Slavs found themselves marginalized and
later eliminated, paving the way for Hitler's vision of Lebensraum
(living space) and his later betrayal and invasion of the Soviet Union
in 1941.
Using a wide array of sources, Robert Forczyk challenges the myths of
Case White to tell the full story of the invasion that sparked history's
greatest conflict.
