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    Trail of Hope: The Anders Army, An Odyssey Across Three Continents
    Trail of Hope: The Anders Army, An Odyssey Across Three Continents
    Trail of Hope: The Anders Army, An Odyssey Across Three Continents
    Audiobook15 hours

    Trail of Hope: The Anders Army, An Odyssey Across Three Continents

    Written by Norman Davies

    Narrated by Derek Perkins

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Following the conquest of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, hundreds of thousands of Polish families were torn from their homes and sent eastwards to the arctic wastes of Siberia. Prisoners of war, refugees, those regarded as "social criminals" by Stalin's regime, and those rounded up by sheer chance were all sent "to see the Great White Bear." However, with Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa just two years later, Russia and the Allied powers found themselves on the same side once more. Turning to those that it had previously deemed "undesirable," Russia sought to raise a Polish army from the men, women, and children that it had imprisoned within its labor camps.



    In this remarkable work, renowned historian Professor Norman Davies draws from years of meticulous research to recount the compelling story of this unit, the Polish II Corps or "Anders Army," and their exceptional journey from the Gulag of Siberia through Iran, the Middle East, and North Africa to the battlefields of Italy to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Allied forces. Complete with first-hand accounts from the men and women who lived through it, this is a unique record of one of the most fascinating episodes of World War II.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateAug 7, 2018
    ISBN9781977383297
    Author

    Norman Davies

    Norman Davies is the bestselling author of Europe: A History; The Isles: A History, Rising ’44 and Europe at War. He is also the author of the definitive history of Poland, God’s Playground, and several books on European history. Born in Bolton, Lancashire in 1939, Davies is a graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford and the University of Sussex. He is a Supernumerary Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford and is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and Professor Emeritus of London University. He lives in Oxford and Krakow, Poland.

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    Reviews for Trail of Hope

    4.5/5

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    • 4/5
      My father was a soldier in Anders Army in World War II. As a Pole he was taken to a work camp in 1939 when Russia invaded Poland along with Germany and not released until 1941 when Germany invaded Russia and a Polish army was thought to be a useful asset in fighting the war. He served in the Middle East, fought at Monte Cassino and ended up in the UK. A typical story for thousands of Poles.

      This book is an introduction to where the Army came from, what it contributed to World War II and what happened to it. It draws on original material to tell the story with extracts from journals, diaries and interviews. There are many photographs (this is one of the best illustrated history books I have read). This is a very personal book; the author is married to a Pole, knew some of the characters himself and draws on Polish community-based efforts to preserve and record the lives and experiences of parents and grandparents now living in the UK.

      This is not rigorously researched history (which is not to say it is not accurate or authentic) but a professionally curated aggregation of personal experiences shaped into a big-picture view of the character and determination of these Polish people in making themselves a part of the larger struggle.

      This is an excellent read for politicians who want to understand the bond between the UK and Poland, which is as strong as any special relationship.