Summary

As its name suggests, The Second World War reached all over the world, and penetrated into every aspect of existence for almost all the people then alive in it. In the remotest parts even of the New World the war brought dislocations galore, of society, trade, methods of work and play; and from the New World fighting men travelled by millions to the Old, where it had begun, to share in the dangers. It was a war that shaped the world of yesterday, and even those born after it ended have had their fates moulded by it. Churchill, Hitler, Mussolini, Roosevelt, Stalin: the names of wartime leaders have assumed mythic proportions, while the memories of Auschwitz and Hiroshima offer haunting reminders of horrors still relevant in our modern age. Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of VE Day, The Oxford Companion to the Second World War is the most wide-ranging and balanced work on the Second World War, the ultimate reference on the subject. Its 1,750 alphabetically-arranged entries vary from brief definitions and one-line signposts to major pieces of description and analysis of several thousand words. They cover every aspect of the Second World War, from strategy, politics, tactics, and weaponry (in 1940 the action at Taranto was won by single-engined biplanes with a top speed of less than 250 kph; by the end of the war supersonic rockets, and jet aircraft with top speeds touching 800 kph were in action), to logistics, political and military leaders, economics, and the effects on society (sex, outside marriage, usually thought shocking in the 1930s, had become commonplace by the 1960s; partly because the war had helped to make it so; partly because the war had stimulated research into birth control). The Second World War often divides the views of historians today as much as it divided combatants at the time (whether BARBAROSSA, the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941, was delayed by the Balkan campaign, for instance, is still a matter of dispute). To reflect the diversity of views about the war the Companion has been written by an international team of more than 140 distinguished contributors, and includes Japanese, German, and Italian perspectives. The huge volume of information is supported by a wealth of illustrative material including stunningly evocative black and white photographs, numerous explanatory diagrams and tables, and detailed maps. All entries are fully-cross referenced, and the volume also offers a general index, chronology, and appendix of place-name changes. Scholarly yet accessibly written, this is the ultimate reference book for anyone who would know more about the greatest conflict in human history. A first-rate guide to every aspect of the Second World War Major country surveys - the experience of the war in all the important belligerent states, typically including the domestic life and economy, government, defence and civil defence, armed forces, intelligence services, merchant navy, resistance, and culture More peripheral countries and colonial possessions - for example, indicating allegiance (and changes of allegiance) of French colonies, the fate of the Dutch East Indies, the involvement of South American states Individual actions - battles, bombings, sinkings, and other events such as the battles of Kasserine Pass and the River Plate, Warsaw Uprisings, Iwo Jima, sinking of the Scharnhorst, Anzio landings, Doolittle Raid, July Bomb plot, Kursk, and the bombing of Nuremberg Military campaigns and operations - FALL GELB, CERBERUS and VERITABLE, as well as BARBAROSSA and OVERLORD, the battle for Berlin, the Fall of France, and Burma Campaign Wartime leaders - Stalin, Hitler, Roosevelt, Chiang Kai-shek, Churchill, Mussolini, Hirohito Military, political, and other leading wartime figures - Grand Admiral Doenitz, General de Gaulle, Count Ciano, Admiral King, Ho Chi Minh, Prince Konoe, Odette Sansom, Charles Lindbergh, Claus Barbie, Harold Macmillan, Marshal Timoshenko, Robert Menzies, Martin Bormann, Rudolph Hess, Admiral Ozawa, Aung San Politics and strategy - origins of the war, the Grand Alliance, strategic air offensive against Japan, allied and axis diplomacy, Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, unconditional surrender, nationalism, the Final Solution, Tokyo Trials, Lend-Lease, Lebensborn, consequences of the war, politics of the atomic bomb Planning and tactics - Blitzkreig, operational research, photographical intelligence and reconnaisance, MULBERRY harbour, logistics, ULTRA Weaponry - submarines, artillery and rockets, tanks, battleships and aircraft carriers, anti-tank weapons, fighters and fighter-bombers, V-weapons, human torpedoes, E-boats, and development of the atomic bomb Formations and organizations - Arab League, ABDA Command, Smersh, Normandie Squadron, Force K, MI9, Todt organization, Servizio Informazione Segreto, Einsatzgruppen, Anders''s Army Phantom Regiment, Hitler Youth, Popski''s Private Army, Cossacks Types of warfare - electronic, airborne, infantry, submarine, artillery, signals intelligence, chemical, economic warfare, and deception Places - regions, districts, islands, camps, etc.(Changi prison, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Caucasus, Formosa, Channel Is., Dachau, Lwow, Bletchley Park, Nagasaki) Terms, slang, nicknames - wavy navy, Bevin Boys, Big Red One, Merrill''s Marauders, jerry cans, V-girls, Blackshirts, Forgotten Army, Zyklon-B General topics - children at war, armistices, scientists at war, deportations, collaboration, deception, loot, Hollywood at war, war correspondents, animals, penal batallions, radio communications, religion, African-Americans at war, historiography, Soviet exiles at war, conscientious objectors, slave labour A truly international team of contributors including... Martin Gilbert, Robert Dallek, Michael Howard, Richard Overy, Heinz-Dietrich Löwe, Yogi Akashi, Robert Service, Peter Calvocoressi, Anthony Farrar-Hockley, Judith Brown, Lucio Ceva, Sumio Hatano, Ben-Ami Shillony, Earl Ziemke, Klaus A. Maier, Ali Gheissari, Giorgio Rochat Advisory Editors: Professor John Gooch, University of Leeds - adviser for Western Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Africa Professor Wilhelm Deist, Military Research Office, Freiburg - special adviser for Germany and Austria Professor Norman Davies, School of Slavic and East European Studies, University of London - adviser for the USSR, Eastern and Cenral Europe, the Balkans, and Persia Professor Robert O''Neill, Chichele Professor of War, University of Oxford - adviser for South East Asia, India, China, Japan, and Australasia Professor David M. Kennedy, Stanford University - adviser for the Americas and the Pacific