How Poland was torn in half in 1939 – Interview with military history author Roger Moorhouse

How Poland was torn in half in 1939 – Interview with military history author Roger Moorhouse

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3eXW7Gp

Interview Timeline

Roger Moorhouse has been a historian for the Third Reich, Poland, and WWII for many years and has written many books on the subject. He recently published a book on the German and Soviet invasions of Poland in 1939 and we spoke about the book and this military event. Poland 1939 (Basic Books, 2020)

0:39 – Roger talks about how he got into studying Poland and WWII.

2:14 – Roger talks about the strength of the German military in 1939 and the propaganda narrative.

5:52 – Roger talks about the scope of the book from tactical to a wider scope.

8:00 – Roger talks about the reasons for Germany’s early setbacks.

11:16 – Roger talks about the terrain and weather of Poland in 1939.

13:52 – Roger talks about German General Guderian reminiscing about his ancestral lands in Poland.

15:39 – Roger compares German tactics in Poland versus the French campaign and the massacres of POWs and civilians.

19:13 – Roger talks about ethnic German attacks against Poles.

22:08 – Roger talks about German propaganda and Goebbels.

27:01 – Roger talks about a battle with a German Panzer army.

28:22 – Roger talks about the Soviet invasion of Poland.

32:12 – Roger talks about Soviet propaganda about its invasion of Poland.

34:06 – Roger discusses Soviet atrocities against upper class and middle class Poles.

36:13 – Roger talks about the Polish death toll in WWII.

37:43 – Roger talks about what materials he used to do his research.

40:20 – Roger talks about the lack of access to Soviet materials.

41:54 – Roger talks about having visited some of the battlefields he wrote about.

48:05 – Roger addresses the concentration camps in Poland.

51:39 – Roger talks about the German and Russian use of elite troops to commit atrocities.

57:30 – Roger can be found at www.rogermoorhouse.com and on twitter @roger_moorhouse

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/3eXW7Gp

https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/roger-moorhouse/poland-1939/9780465095414/

https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/

https://twitter.com/Roger_Moorhouse

Contact Information

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify

Guests: Roger Moorhouse

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Poland, WWII, Germany, 1939, September campaign, USSR, Great Britain, propaganda, espionage, air power, fortified, blitzkreig, Prussia, Guderian, Austria, liebensraum, France, massacres, Nazi, Goebbels, cavalry, tanks, class war, nationalists, Karte archives, concentration camps, NKVD, SS, Wehrmacht, Ukraine

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3eXW7Gp

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Spanish Civil War military history book – “The People’s Army in the Spanish Civil War” (Pen & Sword Books, 2020) – Alex Clifford interview

Check out the book here https://amzn.to/3bxeXn6

Alexander Clifford is a history teacher and has a passion for study of the world wars. He delved into the Spanish Civil War and wrote a book about the Republican Army. We spoke about his new book. Check out the book here https://amzn.to/3bxeXn6

1:09 – Alex discusses how it got into studying and writing on the Spanish Civil War.

3:45 – Alex talks about the levels of hatred and killing during this war.

6:07 – Alex talks about how he breaks the book down. The focus is mainly on military history and the Republican military.

9:02 – Alex talks about the make up of both armies.

19:30 – Alex talks about what the Soviets took from the Republicans and what they gave in return.

23:45 – Alex talks about Soviet goals during the war and how the fighting was going in 1937. He also discusses the French-Soviet alliance.

32:24 – Alex talks about the communist element in the war.

39:38 – Alex talks about urban warfare and where the Republicans did best such as at Madrid.

42:52 – Alex talks about where the International Brigades came from and did.

45:16 – Alex talks about how the Republicans managed the foreign fighters.

47:12 – Alex talks about the make-up of the International Brigades.

51:31 – Alex talks about how black Americans commanded white Americans in this war.

54:13 – Alex talks about the sources for his research starting with the International Brigade literature. He took a more military history angle when looking at them.

1:00:39 – Alex talks about German and Russian documents about the war..

1:03:07 – Alex talks about the honesty of the reports he read.

1:06:14 – Alex talks about Spanish afternoon naps during the war.

1:09:00 – Alex talks about trying to assess the people’s army overall.

1:19:30 – Alex can be found on twitter @historysmost and he has a podcast titled “History’s Most.”

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/3bxeXn6

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Peoples-Army-in-the-Spanish-Civil-War-Hardback/p/17104

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1482668168

https://twitter.com/HistorysMost

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify

Guest: Alexander Clifford

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, inter-war period, spanish civil war, world war one, WWII, Guernica, Picasso, facsism, communism, democracy, hitler, hemmingway, orwell, stalin, mussolini, ideological conflict, colonial warfare, russian civil war, international brigades, guerilla warfare, for whom the bell tolls, pan’s labyrinth, moroccan, morroco, spanish foreign legion, condor legion, messerschmit, stuka, blitzkreig, militia, WW1, t-26, poland, monarchy, republican, POUM, trotsky, may day, catalan, madrid, barcelona, artillery, felicia brown, clive of india, african-americans, oliver law, berkley, merriman, el campesino, comintern, soviet union, poland, red army, ww1

Check out the book here https://amzn.to/3bxeXn6

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.