(Ebook) Resistance - The Underground War In Europe 1939-1945 by Halik Kochanski ISBN 9780141979021, 9780241004289, 014197902X, 0241004284

(Ebook) Resistance - The Underground War In Europe 1939-1945 by Halik Kochanski ISBN 9780141979021, 9780241004289, 014197902X, 0241004284

Across the whole of Occupied Europe the experience of the Axis Occupation Forces responsible for that  countries occupation (principally (but not only) Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany), was sharply varied and not uniformly the same. Some countries - such as Denmark - were allowed to run themselves all be it within tightly controlled limitations. Others - such as France or The Netherlands - were constrained not only by the Military Occupation Forces but also by open acts of enemy Collaboration. In an historic moment in time, when the Axis seemed victorious on all fronts in the war, it now seemed to those Occupied Territory's to be a permanent and utterly irreversible situation. Before too long the question was to soon become 'why resist?', Which in time was to be augmented with 'who was the real enemy?' (especially after actions like the July 1940 Attack by the Royal Navy on Mers-el-Kébir which resulted in over 1200 French Officers and Crew being Killed).Resistance is an extraordinarily powerful, humane and haunting account of how and why all across Axis Occupied Europe from the East to the West and out to the Mediterranean and elsewhere, some people decided to resist the Third Reich and their Allies with all they had in small and large acts of defiance. This could range from open 'partisan warfare' such as in the occupied Eastern Territorys through to dangerous acts of insurrection in The Netherlands or Norway. Some of these resistance movements were entirely home-grown, while many others were nurtured and given direct support by Allied Forces like SOE, MI-9 and OSS.Like no other book since M.R. Foots exhaustive works about the members of the SOE, Resistance shows the reader just how difficult such actions were, and how dangerous it was not only to those who resisted but also to those who were part of their Family and Friends. How small actions by Individuals driven by rage at their situation, often undertaking tasks of all kinds from Intelligence gathering to acts of sabotage or assassination, would often end with their own Torture and Execution (regardless of their sex, women were treated with the same form of callous brutality as the men - sometimes even worse). The age of those captured also made little difference to those occupation forces tasked with destroying by any means necessary those who tried to fight back be they professionally trained in England or home grown inside the country under occupation. Such acts of brutality often entailed not just their own death, but those of their families and their entire communities. Equally any Axis Forces captured by Resistance Forces were often dealt with in a similar way, and with their own version of revenge filled brutality.Filled with powerful and often little-known stories, Halik Kochanski's major new book is a fascinating examination of the convoluted challenges faced by those prepared to resist the Germans, ordinary people who carried out exceptional acts of defiance, be it with The Resistance or Making 'Free Newspapers' or Helping shot down Aircrew to reach safety.'This superb study demythologizes resistance movements while capturing their full drama' - Publishers Weekly. Dr. Halik Kochanski (born 1962) is a British historian and writer, who was educated at Downside School and at Balliol College, Oxford, where she earned her M.A. in Modern History. She followed this up by earning her Ph.D from King's College, London and has taught history at King's College London and University College, London. Additionally, She has written a number of historical articles and now three well received books - Sir Garnet Wolseley: Victorian Hero (1999), The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War (2012) and Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945 (2022). She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a member of the Army Records Society, the Society for Army Historical Research, the British Commission for Military History and the Institute for Historical Research. As of 2012 she is a judge for the Templer Medal book prize.Illustrated with B/W Pictures.