Bøger af Evan McGilvray

General WÅ'adysÅ'aw Sikorski was the Head of the wartime Polish Government and Polish Commander-in-Chief, 1939-1943\. Sikorski rose to prominence in Poland between 1910 and 1918 as part of the movement towards Polish independence, achieved in 1918\. In 1920 Sikorski was largely responsible for the defeat of the Red Army. In 1926 he fell from favour following a military coup. During this fallow period, 1926-1939, Sikorski travelled, mainly in France. He also wrote influential military-science treatises. In September 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and annexed Poland. Sikorski, his military offices refused by the Polish Government, fled to Romania. There he was intercepted by the French ambassador to Poland and taken to Paris where he established a Polish Government-in-Exile and rebuilt the Polish Army. In May 1940 France was overrun by Germany. Sikorski removed himself and his government to London. There he began to re-build the Polish army largely lost in France. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Sikorski was forced by the British Government to accept the Soviets as allies. This led to a larger Polish army being formed in the Soviet Union and sent to the Middle East, commanded by General Anders who was to become a thorn in SikorskiâEUR(TM)s side. By 1943, the two men were clearly enemies. Sikorski died in an air crash off Gibraltar. The cause has never been satisfactory established.

De Gaulle and Churchill examines the tense and complicated relationship between General de Gaulle as leader of the Free French on the one hand and Winston Churchill and the British Government on the other.Evan McGilvray shows that De Gaulle was a career soldier, not a politician by any means, prior to 1940 but stepped into the leadership vacuum after the fall of France to provide a vital figurehead and rallying point for the Free French movement. His experiences in WW1, where he had served with distinction and was decorated but then was captured and so missed the nadir of despair expressed in the mutiny of 1917, meant he did not share the general defeatism of his peers in 1940.De Gaulle had demonstrated between the wars that he understood modern warfare and the need for modernization and reform of the French forces.Churchill valued the Free French contribution, particularly the French colonies as bulwarks to the British Middle East and jumping-off points for a Mediterranean counteroffensive, but demonstrated his ruthless willingness to ride roughshod over French sensibilities. This was most famously demonstrated by the sinking of the French fleet to prevent it falling into German hands.The author traces their difficult relationship from the dark days of the Fall of France, to the final victory, with de Gaulle by then installed as head of the provisional government of the French Republic. This fascinating study concludes with the immediate post-war period, by which time Churchill and de Gaulle had developed a warmer, more mutually respectful relationship.

Covers the division's precursor 10th Mechanized Cavalry Brigade (10BKS).

This is a biography of one of the most undervalued commanders of the Second World War, General Stanislaw Maczek, a soldier overlooked by most military historians in the West both because he was Polish and above politics.

This work examines the nature of the relationship between the British Government and the Polish Government in Exile, 1939-1945. The relationship was extremely difficult owing to the extremity of the time and the situations of the two governments. Before 1939 there had been little contact between Poland and Britain.

The Black Devils March is an account of how the 1st (and only) Polish Armoured Division in the West under the leadership of General Stanislaw Maczek, arose out of the ashes of defeat and while attempting to avoid the internal politics of the Polish Government in Exile, was able to return to Europe in August 1944.

The full story of Poland's part in WW2 from failure of pre-war diplomacy and planning, through to betrayal by Allies leading to civil war and Soviet occupation in immediate post-war years.

The book is about how Colonel Zygmunt Berling, a disgruntled Colonel of the Polish inter-war army - once captured by the Red Army and imprisoned - betrayed his country whilst in captivity between 1939-1941.

General Anders was a significant and controversial figure in the politics of Allied command