Second World War

Andrew Boxer considers explanations for France’s disastrous foreign policy between the wars.

Hitler’s armed forces included many thousands of men of Jewish origin. How did this come about, and what were their military experiences like? Josie Dunn and Roger Morgan have studied the letters sent home to Germany by Medical Orderly Kurt Herrmann, who was one of these men, an unusual and reluctant young soldier who was a part of the army that invaded Russia.

For the duration of the Second World War, the British fought a covert battle against a large-scale influx of forged bank notes that threatened to bust the economy. Marc Tiley traces the story of the largest counterfeiting scheme in history.

Hanna Diamond examines the mixed experiences of the French men and women of every social class who fled their homes in the mass exodus from the Nazis in 1940, and those who took them in.

After he fell from power, Bismarck became a mythical hero figure of the right. The legend of the ‘Iron Chancellor’ was wielded by militarists, conservatives, and eventually, Adolf Hitler.

One of the great conspiracy theories of the Second World War is that the ­Americans struck a deal with Mafia mobsters to ­conquer Sicily. Tim Newark exposes the truth behind this notorious story of Mafia collaboration.

Jörg Friedrich’s horrifying account of the Allied bombing raids caused a stir on its first publication in Germany. Now it has been translated into English, and York Membery has canvassed some leading British historians for their views.

F.G. Stapleton seeks to understand why the Pontiff of 1939-58 has been called ‘Hitler’s Pope’.

Did Hitler intend to provoke a general war over Poland in September 1939 or was it a serious miscalculation? Adam Tooze examines the views of leading historians before offering his own, new, interpretation of the decisions and events in Germany that ignited the Second World War.

As Battle of Britain Day approaches Brian James has been finding out why some of today’s leading military historians argue that it was not the RAF but the Royal Navy that saved Britain in 1940.