Written by leading World War II historian Richard Overy and vividly illustrated, this valuable reference captures this momentous period in history and delivers large amounts of information with maximum impact. The global flow of events from the German blitzkrieg against Poland in September 1939 to the atomic bombing of Japan in August 1945, and from the islands of the South Pacific to Norwegian fjords beyond the Arctic Circle, is illuminated by the author's keen insights on weapons, strategy, and tactics. Thirty items of removable memorabilia range from official war documents, combat reports, and annotated speech notes to telegrams, letters, and diary extracts. In addition, an audio DVD includes 80 firsthand accounts of British and US veterans from the Sound Archives of the Imperial War Museums and other archives--among them, recordings of Eisenhower and Roosevelt.