Bringing History to Life Collections

Bringing History to Life Collector’s Edition’ is a 180 page must read special issue packed with in depth WW2 historical information narrated as a story and illustrated with informative graphs and timelines. Readers interested in WW2 will not be disappointed.

» The largest invasion in history

GERMAN TROOPS INVADE POLAND • Adolf Hitler takes a huge gamble when he decides to attack Poland. The country must be defeated quickly to prevent Western European powers – principally Britain and France – from interfering. But the campaign does not go entirely according to the Führer’s plan.

FROST SHATTERS STALIN’S PLANS • Stalin had set aside 12 days for the war. He thought it wouldn’t take any longer than that for the Soviet Union to defeat Finland, but he was wrong. The Finnish soldiers fought valiantly against their foes, and the Soviet Union paid dearly for its victory – during 105 days of war, at least 250,000 Soviet soldiers were killed.

NORWAY FALLS • In 1940, Hitler decided to test the Allies’ strength during the invasion of Norway. However, after a month of hard fighting in and around the crucial port city of Narvik, the Germans were ready to admit defeat and retreat home through Sweden, but then the Allies did something unexpected...

THE MIRACLE AT DUNKIRK • In 1940, 400,000 Allied soldiers are fighting for their lives near the French city of Dunkirk. Surrounded on three sides by German armoured divisions and with their backs to the sea, the situation is hopeless. But salvation comes from the west as the British Navy launches history’s largest-ever evacuation operation.

BRITISH PILOTS HOLD OFF THE LUFTWAFFE • In the summer of 1940 a battle breaks out that will last for 114 days. First, the Luftwaffe attack merchant ships in the English Channel, then the Germans smash British radar installations and air bases before relentlessly bombing London. But the British “few” are stubborn.

AFRIKA KORPS SAVES THE ITALIANS • When Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps arrived in Tripoli, Libya, in February 1941, they were greeted by an exhausted, dispirited Italian army. The fact that the city was still in Axis’ hands was a matter of luck. But the men’s low morale was cured when Rommel launched a series of offensives that made him the Allies’ worst enemy…

HITLER TRIUMPHS OVER RED ARMY • In June 1941, Hitler launches a surprise attack on the Soviet Union. 3.7 million soldiers storm over the border in an incredible display of German Blitzkrieg, but Stalin’s enormous empire turns out to be a tough nut to crack, even for the usually victorious invading forces.

GERMAN RING OF STEEL CHOKES LENINGRAD • In the autumn of 1941, the German ring of steel closes around Leningrad, trapping the residents inside the city. Hitler forbids his generals from taking Leningrad – instead, its 3.5 million citizens must starve to death, thereby allowing German settlers to move into the empty metropolis. A merciless battle against cold and hunger begins.

THE BLITZKRIEG FREEZES • Hitler’s troops launch their assault on Moscow. Everything points towards a magnificent victory as the Kremlin’s spires appear in the advance force’s sights. But the icy winter has set in, and as the temperature plunges, Stalin deploys his reserves into the battle on the Eastern Front.

DEATH COMES FROM THE SKIES • On a quiet Sunday morning in December, the naval base at Pearl Harbor wakes to the sound of falling bombs. Waves of Japanese planes fly over the US Pacific fleet anchored there and in a matter of hours the harbour becomes a graveyard for both men and ships. It’s the end of 1941 and the US has just been drawn into World War II.

ATTACK ON STALINGRAD • In autumn 1942, the Soviet industrial city of Stalingrad became the scene for a duel between Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Both dictators laid claim to...