Description for BATTLES LOST & WON: GREAT CAMPAIGNS OF WORLD WAR II by Hanson W Baldwin: The military editor and analyst of the "New York Times" evaluates eleven crucial battles of the Second World War, analyzing what happened in each and why, as well as the larger results. Describing his purpose in this volume, Mr. Baldwin says: "The eleven selected battles present a cross-section of the world's greatest war---from the Polish campaign, where blitzkrieg was born, to Okinawa, 'the last battle,' where the kamikaze portended the coming menace of the missile. Each battle described was, in fact, more than a battle; each was so extensive in time and space and comprised so many separate episodes of struggle that each transcended the older meaning of the world 'battle' and was, in essence, a campaign. yet each was an entity; many were a turning point; upon some, the scales of history rested." In addition to the Polish campaign and Okinawa, Mr. Baldwin re-creates the Battle of Britain; the airborne invasion of Crete; the American defense of Corregidor; the Battle of Stalingrad, which broke the Nazi armies in the east; the struggle for Sicily; the hell of Tarawa; the greatest seaborne invasion of all time---D Day at Normandy; the last massive sea battle---Leyte Gulf; and the final, desperate Battle of the Bulge. Written for both the general reader and the expert, BATTLES LOST AND WON combines most effectively the emotional and dramatic immediacy of tremendous events with the knowledge and wisdom of afteryears.
