Poland 1939

The Outbreak of World War II

By: Roger Moorhouse

Narrated by: Roger Moorhouse

Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

A "chilling" and "expertly" written history of the 1939 September Campaign and the onset of World War II (Times of London).

For Americans, World War II began in December of 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Poland, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's soldiers invaded, followed later that month by Stalin's Red Army. The conflict that followed saw the debut of many of the features that would come to define the later war-blitzkrieg, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate aerial bombing-yet it is routinely overlooked by historians. 

In Poland 1939, Roger Moorhouse reexamines the least understood campaign of World War II, using original archival sources to provide a harrowing and very human account of the events that set the bloody tone for the conflict to come.

©2020 Roger Moorhouse (P)2020 Basic Books

Critic reviews

"Moorhouse's book remedies that gap [in the history of the Polish War], weaving together archival material, first-hand accounts, perceptive analysis and heartbreaking descriptions of Poland's betrayal, defeat and dismemberment." (Economist)

"Timely and authoritative.... [Moorhouse] has trawled through an impressive quantity of unpublished Polish and German sources, as well as a wealth of eyewitness testimonies from both sides, to produce a balanced account of this much neglected yet important episode of the second world war which is both harrowing and inspiring." (The Spectator)

"There remain a number of myths about the invasion of Poland in 1939. Moorhouse seeks to use modern historiography to correct these falsehoods. A solid analysis of World War II's first major operation...." (Library Journal)

Always Overlooked

The Polish campaign gets little love from military historians unless it's from hardcore rivet counters like Robert Forczyk and he's unreadable for my personal tastes. Moorhouse covers it all and quite well, I think, not only recounting the Gleiwitz attack, for example, but also the botched special ops attempt to secure a railway station several days before the war started due to a foul up in recall orders, which I greatly appreciated as I had a dim memory of that from a book I read when I was a kid. Being audio, it's tough to get a feel for the geography of the campaign and that's a downside to it but it can't be helped. What could have helped was hiring a real narrator for the book rather than doing it himself, He sounds like he has to do his own housework because the maid quit and he's quite put out about it and a bit depressed, making it tough to focus on the story at times. Then an overdub cuts in and a pro gets at it and I'm thinking, thank goodness.... and then Moorhouse cuts back in. If it had a better narrator I'd be tempted to rate it a 4 rather than a 3.

It’s about time!

History may have been originally written by the victors but in this case it has been corrected! Thank you to Roger Moorhouse for painting a more accurate portrait of what actually happened in Poland in 1939. Hopefully this book will lead to many more true stories of how valiantly the Poles fought for their homeland. Being attacked by not only one barbaric regime but two at the same time, who attacked innocent citizens first before an opposing army in many cases just showed their true cowardice.

with this book we discover the history of History

Rodger Moore house does a magnificent job in revealing the straightforward history that has been concealed for some 70 years. I am grateful to him for this work and I will recommended without hesitation. also I will read it again and again.

Well read and most interesting

It helps to understand the complexity of the era and the start of the war to see how it happened in Poland and foreshadowed so much to come. Well worth a Covid-19 week of listening.

The Truth Finally Told Of What September 1939

Great Book to listen to and finally someone took the time to write about the Rape and Destruction of Poland and the Polish Citizens. The enormity of cruelty and wanton killing of innocent Polish people by both Germany and Russia is unforgivable. The supposed Allies of France , England and America just watched.

Basic

I was severely disappointed by this book. I was extremely excited when it was released, and eagerly snatched up a paper copy. I drive a lot, so I also got the audible version. The author consistently mispronounces Polish names, which, in my opinion, decreases his credibility. A cursory amount of research was done on this book. Not enough research to be a military history, but slightly more than the average telling. Several other English Speaking historians have published much better histories on the subject, yet Morehouse acts as if he is pioneering the field. Good cursory overview, no original research and is generally lacking.

Excellant!!

This is a well-written and well-researched history of Poland mostly untold fight/plight during World War 2.

Informative and expanding

fantastic information on Polands fight for independance. much context has been added in comparison to other books about the same subject including personal al accounts and examples not referenced in other materials. This is a significantly well researched and executed book. The narrator was easy to listen too although I sped mine up to 1.3 and it helped shorten the listening time and worked well for me.

Enjoyable

I enjoyed listening to this account of Poland’s plight in WWII. Well researched and written.

Very interesting

Eye opening to hear the Poles side in more details, i enjoyed it. Thank you.