3:30pm Thursday 20th November 2008
The pitiless march of the German army through Poland at the start of the Second World War has been movingly told in a new book by Craven man Richard Hargreaves.
In his second historical volume, “Blitzkrieg Unleashed”, the former Ermysted’s Grammar School pupil charts the Nazis’ merciless assault, which began in August 1939.
The Poles put up a gallant fight, at times holding back the technologically superior Nazi forces, but losing thousands in the attempt. As a result, the Germans made them pay.
It’s a book that captures the misery and despair of the defeated nation and the gloating hatred of the victors through the voices of both victims and aggressors.
Richard’s journalistic background – he is a reporter with the Navy News – is clear as he tells the story through the voices of those involved.
As he says: “I tried to grasp the human plight – reveal what it was like for the people involved. So much history can be dry and tedious – full of facts and statistics. I’ve had to trawl through tons of stuff like that and I didn’t want my readers to have to endure it as well.
“There were plenty of stories to tell and there are even more out there,” said Richard who is now working on his third book about the defeat of Breslow – modern Wroclaw.
Richard, 36, who did some of his training at the Craven Herald, hooked into some of his own emotions when writing the book.
In 2003, he went out as a reporter for Navy News on the invasion of Iraq. He was five weeks on HMS Ark Royal and saw the Royal Marines going in by helicopter.
“It’s a moment I shall never forget – a humbling experience to see those people going in knowing they might not come back,” he said.
Though his book does not spare the horror of war, it is littered with glimpses of humanity from both sides of the conflict. One such story is that of veteran World War One soldier Feldwebel Wilm Hosenfeld, a teacher in civilian life, who was moved by the plight of the Poles and despised the cruelty doled out by the Nazis, whom he came to hate.
He befriended Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jew, giving him food and clothing to help him through the winter.
Szpilman was wearing Hosenfeld’s overcoat when Warsaw was relieved by the Russians. He tried to contact the German but, not knowing his name, failed.
Hosenfeld was imprisoned by the Russians and died in captivity in 1952, having endured years of torture. Szpilman went on to become one of Poland’s greatest pianists.
This book is a must for anyone interested in those early dark days of World War Two and especially people in the UK with Polish roots. It’s a reminder of what their parents and grandparents had to suffer and a re-affirmation of pride in their nation.
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