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The First World War had seen the mechanization of warfare. Battle fronts had become immobilized in the grip of machine-guns and heavy artillery, leading to slaughter on an unprecedented scale. The end of the war saw exhausted governments extricating themselves from the carnage, but some leaders were concerned that, sooner or later, another major war would follow. As France’s Marshal Foch put it, the Treaty of Versailles was only a ‘twenty-year truce’. The overriding concern was to find ways in future of avoiding the kind of static battle fronts that had consumed so many in such futile efforts. Military aviation was seen as the one great innovation that had the potential to do this by r...
Poland was in ruins after World War I. The fighting front had rolled through some areas more than seven different times, and the result was the almost complete destruction of the roads, railways, bridges, water systems, and power plants. The government was based mainly on civil servants of Polish descent who remained on the job after the fall of Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. Even after Poland regained her independence in 1918, the borders were not yet defined and the nation was vulnerable to continued threats from Germany and Russia. This work presents the story of the Kosciuszko Squadron, a small group of American flyers that formed without the support of the State Department and th...
Stalin is quoted as saying 'One man's death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths is a statistic'. This is the story of a man who was determined to be neither. Kazimierz Tomasz 'Tomek' Hubert was 17 when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Despite his young age, he was quickly deported to the Vorkuta Gulag in the Arctic Circle, for the crime of being the son of a military governor. Here he would survive torture, starvation and even the threat of cannibalism, before he managed to escape and set off on a 6,000km walk to freedom. In this moving tale of endurance against all odds, Andrew Hubert von Staufer traces his father's footsteps from the gulags of Siberia to flying Spitfires in air battles against the Luftwaffe. This is a remarkable account of the Second World War and its long-reaching impact.
The little-known WWII story of the Polish Air Force fliers who played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain and beyond. To the Polish volunteers who flew and fought so brilliantly and tenaciously throughout the Battle of Britain, the United Kingdom was known as “Last Hope Island.” Many lost their lives, such as Antoni Ostowicz. Many achieved glory and became aces—such as Glowacki, Skalski, and Witorzenc. The RAF came to depend on these men, with over one hundred Polish pilots supporting almost thirty fighter squadrons, most especially 302, 303, and 307 (night fighter). The result of years of research, Robert Gretzyngier’s book includes detailed combat descriptions, personal accounts from combat reports, memoirs, and diaries from the Polish, British, and German perspective, with in-depth biographical data of all Polish pilots, including full RAF and PAF careers and much tabular material in appendix form. Poles in Defence of Britain is a tremendous account of Polish contribution in those hectic days before the RAF began to take the offensive across the Channel, with many previously unpublished photographs from private collections.
Since it was first published in 1989, Men of the Battle of Britain has become a standard reference book for academics and researchers interested in the Battle of Britain. Copies are also owned by many with purely an armchair interest in the events of 1940.The book records the service details of the airmen who took part in the Battle of Britain in considerable detail. Where known, postings and their dates are included, as well as promotions, decorations and successes claimed flying against the enemy. There is also much personal detail, often including dates and places of birth, civilian occupations, dates of death and place of burial or, for those with no known grave, place of commemoration. ...
An important piece in the jigsaw of aviation history in Northumberland.
"This volume ... takes a look at the military airpower functions that emerged during World War I, and then examines the development of airpower doctrine in seven nations that developed major military air arms during and after the first World War. They are: France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the Union of Soviet Socialist States (USSR), and the United States of America ... The text also reviews the use of military airpower in conflicts that took place between the two world wars"--Page xi.
General study of Poland - covers history, demographic aspects and geographical aspects, social structure, religious practice, education, health, the economy, (agricultural sector, industrial sector, infrastructure, trade, external debt), government, politics, political opposition, international relations, defence, military service, administration of justice, etc. Bibliography, glossary, maps, organigram, photographs, statistical tables.