Hargreaves - Blitzkrieg unleashed : the German invasion of Poland 1939

N o historian can contemplate tackling the Polish campaign without two ground-breaking works: Stephen Zalogas and Victor Madejs September Campaign and William Russ Fall Weiss ; the latter is worth the asking price for its maps alone. Bill was also kind enough to provide me with XIX Panzer Corps war diary for September 1939, read various chapters drafts, and answer numerous questions. Jan-Hendrik Wendler too deserves special mention for providing extracts from the histories of 29th Infantry Division and 7th Panzer Regiment and sparing me numerous pitfalls and faux pas . All images are taken from contemporary Nazi publications, except where stated. Elsewhere, Frau Brabant of the Bundesarchiv in Freiburg guided me through Germanys daunting military archives. Also worthy of my gratitude are Stephen Walton and his colleagues in the Department of Documents at the Imperial War Museum, London; Public Record Office, Kew; Capt Christopher Page of the Naval Historical Branch, Portsmouth; the staff of the following libraries: University of Nottingham, University of Manchester, University of Sussex, University of Portsmouth, University of Warwick, and Lancashire, Portsmouth, and Nottinghamshire; New York Public Libraries; British Newspaper Library; Jason Pipes and his colleagues at www.feldgrau.net; Jason Mark for help with tracking down details on obscure German units and officers; Michael Miller for filling in the blanks in Albert Forsters career; Howard Davies for his inestimable knowledge of the German language; Andy Brady for the maps; Tom Houlihan, Yan Mann, Andreas Biermann, Darren Beck, Helen Craven and Allison Tupper for proofreading, advice, and occasional moral support. The book which follows is all the richer for their input. For its shortcomings, I alone bear responsibility.