The German Approach to Counterinsurgency in the Second World War

From the German attack on Poland, the political aims of National Socialist ideology replaced other considerations in the field of counterinsurgency. This tendency escalated during the following years, with the invasion of the Soviet Union as the key turning point. The fighting at the front and against insurgents became interconnected with the destruction of the European Jews, and the radicalisation of the German approach provoked further resistance from underground movements throughout Europe. In the form of a literature review that presents the current state of research on six operational areas (Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy, and the Soviet Union), this article argues that German counterinsurgency policy between 1939 and 1945 combined military necessity, ideology, and mentality in a way that facilitated genocide.     

Growing up in the shadow of the Second World War: European perspectives

In this Special Issue, the authors explore the various ways in which the Second World War shaped children's experiences in the post-war period. They map the multifaceted interest or non-interest of states all over Europe for children in the years after the war, filter out groups of children who recall that the consequences of the Second World War significantly influenced their childhood, and investigate the childhood policies directed towards them, as well as their childhood experiences and the memories they foster about their childhood. In addition, they have included case studies from Western, Central and Eastern Europe with the aim of sparking a debate as to whether it was only a similar lifecycle that war children in early post-war Europe shared, or if they also had some life experiences in common.     

Review Article:Three Second World War Studies

STEVEN MERRITT MINER. Between Churchill and Stalin: The Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the Origins of the Grand Alliance. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Pp. 319. $36.00 (US);

CHARLES MESSENGER. Hitler's Gladiator: The Life and Times of Oberstgruppenfiihrer and Panzergeneral-Oberst der Waffen-SS Sepp Dietrich. London and New York: Brassey's Defence Publishers (Pergamon), 1988. Pp.xvi,245.$26.95 (US);

TONY LE TISSIER. The Battle of Berlin 1945. London: Jonathan Cape, 1988. Pp. xiii, ago. £15.