Reader's Digest Illustrated Story of World War II

In this 536 page book the editors of Reader's Digest present in text and photographs the story of the largest conflict ever to engulf our world. It ranges from the first German blitzkrieg that crushed Poland in 1939 to Japan's unconditional surrender on the broad foredeck of the USS Missouri six years later; from the pre-war rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party to the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Here are first-person reports by world leaders, servicemen and civilians, Allied and Axis alike, alongside the drama of major battles related by the military leaders who oversaw them. There are more than 260 dramatic `you-are-there' photos, selected from private and government collections in many countries. In addition to recording the progress of the war, these images and stories show the impact of a world conflict on the individual, and expose the terror, the misery, the pain, loneliness and calm, the quiet courage of the men and women who were caught in the nightmare of total war...