War in a Twilight World: Partisan and Anti-Partisan Warfare in Eastern Europe, 1939-45

Across German-occupied Europe during World War Two, it was the population of eastern Europe which suffered most. A far-reaching effect was the emergence of widespread, ferocious partisan warfare, the legacy of which still resonates in the countries affected. This book assembles cutting-edge case studies by established and emerging academics to examine both partisan and anti-partisan warfare in different regions and localities of German-occupied eastern Europe. It shows how such warfare was shaped by an array of factors including fighting power, political and economic structures, the ideological and psychological attitudes of the combatants, the stance of the occupied population towards occupier and partisans, varied and often extreme environmental conditions, and the hostile, often bloody relations between the different ethnic groups under occupation. The result is a new degree of illumination of the realities of partisan and anti-partisan warfare on the ground during this dark chapter in European history.