Blitzkrieg

STEPHEN & RUSSELL HART

As the subtitle tells you, this is the story of the German early war success, from the invasion of Poland through to the fall of France. It covers the Denmark and Norwary campaigns and the action in the Low Countries as well. If you’ve read any of Osprey’s Combat series of softcover volumes, what comes next will be familiar. It’s a very modern blend of orders of battle, excellent maps, 3D visualisations of the battlefield, timelines and contemporary photos. There’s a lot to get in which results in some of the visualisations being very dense with information and other elements being very much an overview. While the commanders come under scrutiny, there’s little quoting from those who where there which means it’s not as personal an account as you might get from books on individual battles. It does though, offer a splendid guide to just how the German combined armed forces steamrollered Europe in less than a year.

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• Osprey Publishing

• ISBN 978-1-4728-4787-4

• 308 pages • Hardback • £30