War in Europe: Blitzkrieg

By Edwin P. Hoyt

Book Overview

The remarkable history of explosive conflict in World War II's European theater. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380761556
• ISBN13: 9780380761555
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.9" x 4.2" x 0.9"

Customer Reviews

Good introduction to WWII's early days.

So much has been written of the latter part of WWII (i.e., D-Day and beyond) that the very early days of the war in Europe have become obscured by time, especially for Americans. Edwin P. Hoyt competently presents the salient facts of the war's early days without overwhelming the reader with superfluous detail. The weak response of the West to Hitler's territorial aggression in Czechslovakia and other places is one of the enduring lessons of WWII. As it turns out, Germany wasn't really in a position to start a full-scale war. Hitler persisted because he counted on the reluctance of the West to oppose his efforts. Even at this early stage of the war, Hitler and the German generals worked at cross-purposes.This short book (barely 240 pages in the paperback edition) tells of the invasion of Poland, the war at sea during the so-called "phony war" phase, the invasion of Norway, the invasion of Holland, and the first part of the battle for France. It concludes with the early part of the Dunkirk evacuation. The book doesn't delve into the ground-level experience of common soldiers, but it does quote from diaries and memoirs of generals and politicians, as needed. Guderian and Rommel are two of the more recognizable names participating in these early events. The reader gets the facts of warfare without the first-hand sights and feel of battle found in the work of Stephen Ambrose, for example.There is informative material about the development of the submarine and tank as efficient weapons of war. The development of the coordinated effort of air and ground forces into the vaunted "Blitzkrieg" of modern (1939-1940) lightning warfare is described. Although this book doesn't reach the towering stature of the more familiar histories of WWII, it is very worthwhile and informative reading.