military

I'm very happy that mr Norman Davies is writing all those books about Poland.Poland used to be one of the biggest Nations in Europe(for a long time the biggest)yet ,because of the cold war nobody knows much about it's history.
I have been studying central european history and was always amazed how little people knew about country such as Poland.When it comes to Poland's role in WW2 it must be one of the most underrated.Poles fought in pretty much every major campaign(look at the 303 squadron in battle of Britain)their AK(Home Army)was one of the biggest ,best organized underground forces in all of Europe(i don't think any other underground army can be even compared to it)
yet there is not even a movie made about it in Hollywood if the Rising'44 took place in any other country it would be made into a movie.Everyone i asked about knew nothing about that great uprising.
Go out get the book it is well worth it,learn some more about Polish Underground(just check the V-1 V-2 rocket ,the action that gave the English the plans and the rocket itself will blow your mind)
The sad think about the Rising'44 is that it is so well documented by the Poles and the Germans ,yet the west still managed to suppress the knowledge of it.
Buy this book.
(...)

Norman Davies' detailed and well-researched account of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 against the Nazis is a major contribution to World War II history. The heroism of the Rising is much underappreciated, as is the malice of the Soviets and inaction of the Americans and British in relation to supporting it. Davies helps to set the record straight. However, this otherwise fine book is marred by Davies' odd decision to alter Polish personal and place names, supposedly to make them more acceptable to English readers. Even famous Poles (eg. Premier Mikolaczyk, composer Witold Lutoslawski) are not immune to having their names altered at Davies' whim. I found myself repeately slowed down in my reading by having to look up the real names of major players in the history. In all, it comes across as an appalling piece of Anglo arrogance that detracts from an othewise strong work.

The author of this work is very correct: most people think that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 was the one and only in that city. Of course, the rising in 1944 was of much more consequence to the history of Eastern Europe, even if both were tragedies. This extremely well-written book outlines the history both before, during and after the '44 rising, and the great detail shows that there was a deliberate ignoring of the plight of the Polish patriots by their Western allies, with a stalling on the part of the Soviets until the rising was crushed by the Nazis. There were many political reasons for why both East and West acted as they did in relation to Poland, but knowing that does not excuse what was done to a brave little country that had the guts to stand up to the Germans, when all about them were caving in to pressure. The Western betrayal is the same as we read in the other recent book about Polish fighters in the war "A Question of Honor", and the harsh glow of history shines on what was not done, and what might have been done. There are vignettes inserted into the book which go into more intimate detail of the many aspects of the rising, from the point of view of participants on all sides. My one quibble was that the author used nicknames and such, rather than the real Polish names of the participants. I can understand why he did that, because Polish names are not the easiest to read or pronounce, but having grown up and gone to school with my fellow second and third generation Polish friends, I can surely pronounce them, and would have liked to see them set out in full. That, of course, does not detract from the impact of this work, and the genuine admiration the author shows for Poland and its people. I am proud to be of 100% Polish descent, and books such as this only reinforce that pride!