Osprey Men-at-Arms 117 : The Polish Army 1939-1945

Poland was the first of the Allied nations to succumb to German aggression in the Second World War, but by the most tortuous of routes her army managed to remain in the field through all five years of bloody fighting. In fact by the war's end the Polish Army was the fourth largest contingent of the Allied coalition after the armed forces of the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain. Polish soldiers fought in nearly every major campaign in the European theatre, and their tale is a complicated and tragic one. The heroic efforts of the Polish Army were often rendered meaningless by political events far outside their control. Fate was very cruel indeed to the Polish nation during those years, and especially cruel to her soldiers. Steven Zaloga relates the story of the Polish Army during the Second World War, from the first wave of Stukas in 1939 to its eventual conclusion. Numerous contemporary photographs accompany the text as well as eight full page colour plates by Richard Hook.

Contents

• Introduction
• The September 1939 Campaign
• The Polish Army in Exile
• The Underground Army
• The Polish People's Army (LWP)
• Hope in Ashes
• The Plates