Customer Reviews

Polish Campaign of 1939

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Most western accounts of the German attack on Poland end up repeating tales straight out of German propaganda. These include the myth of Polish cavalry charging German tanks, and the myth about the Polish Air Force being destroyed, largely on the ground, in the first two days of combat. Neither of these oft-repeated tales is true. While the authors do point out that some Polish military thinkers tended to underestimate the significance of Panzer divisions, the same held for many French, British, and yes, German military thinkers before the war. Nevertheless, the Poles possessed the potent Bofors 37 mm antitank gun, but not enough to make a difference in the war. The authors also discuss temporary military successes in the Bzura campaign. In the end, the German victory over Poland, and also later over much of Europe, stemmed from a combination of the former's industrial superiority coupled with the failure of western Europeans to take Hitler seriously.