Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising

Heroic yet doomed, the 1944 Warsaw Uprising was an act of resistance launched by the underground Polish Home Army, with extraordinarily adverse effects. The summertime battle was the catalyst for the Nazis long-planned destruction of the once glorious Polish capital chronicled here with astonishing precision by historian and Warsaw resident Ritchie (Faust's Metropolis). Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler were determined to eradicate not just the Polish Jews, but the entire Polish nation, people they viewed as less than human. Yet the two Nazi leaders, authors of the madness, play supporting roles here. The unimaginable barbarity that seized Warsaw was unleashed by some of the most sadistic S.S. officers in the Nazi regime. Despite pleas from Winston Churchill, the U.S. and Great Britain ultimately did little to help the Poles lest they antagonize an indifferent Josef Stalin. The Russian leader was content to have his armies wait out the urban warfare as the Germans reorganized to crush the Polish fighters. Richie is an unrelenting storyteller: Page turns offer little respite for the reader in this grim and chilling book that delivers exhaustive and unforgettable details of this gruesome chapter of World War II. B&w illus. (Nov.)