LIBERATIONThe Bitter Road to Freedom, Europe 1944-1945

RRP: ~~£25.00~~
OUR PRICE: £3.95

"The first book I have read that explicitly addresses the plight of civilians during the `crusade for Europe.' ... This tale vividly demonstrates that there was no cause for triumphalism in the condition of Europe following the defeat of Hitler." .....Max Hastings, Sunday Times

William Hitchcock's study of the liberation of Europe in the Second World War is actually four interrelated books in one.The first book looks at the experience of civilians in north-western Europe amidst the fighting during the final months of the war. Theirs is a story of painful, often overlooked hardship, as they were subjected to bombs and shells that did not discriminate between them and the German occupiers. For many Belgians, the Battle of the Bulge meant living through the thick of the fighting, while the Dutch, though spared much direct combat, suffered starvation from the disruption of food supplies. The second book shifts to an examination of the fighting in the east. Here Hitchcock provides a broader account, one that begins with the German invasion in 1941. This allows him to recount the atrocities committed by Nazi forces, something that allows him to put the conduct of Soviet troops into context. Civilians are much less central to Hitchcock's analysis here, as he also discusses post-war planning for Germany's fate. It is only when Germany itself becomes the battleground that the civilians remerge as the central focus of the narrative, where again they are presented as victims of the savagery of war. The final two sections concentrate on the development and administration of relief efforts for those who survived the fighting. The third book addresses the problem posed by 'displaced persons', the millions of refugees created by the war. Here he examines the efforts not just of the Allied forces but of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), a newly formed agency that sought to improve on the private relief efforts that characterised the last war. Hitchcock's final book looks at the civilians who suffered the most - the concentration camp survivors. His focus here is primarily on the Western allies, with separate chapters that address separately how the Americans and the British responded to the morally horrifying and politically complicated question of what to do for those who survived the Holocaust.

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Details


Product Code:	20776
Author:	William Hitchcock
ISBN:	9780571227723
Format:	HB 446 pp Maps + Illustrations Published Price £25
Shipping Time:	This item is usually dispatched Next Day
Retail Price:	~~£25.00~~
Our Price:	£3.95 save 84%