What was the biggest operation of World War II in Europe? It wasn't D-Day* What was the name of the largest concentration camp operating in Europe between 1939 and 1945. It wasn't Auschwitz** What European nationality lost the largest number of civilians between 1939-45? It wasn't the French - or the Germans.***

Bringing his usual fresh eye to bear on a story we think we all know, Norman Davies answers these questions, and many more, in this concise, vivid and thought-provoking new history of the Second World War. Powerfully argued, compellingly written and devastating in its conclusions, Davies forces us to look again at those six years and to discard the usual narrative of Allied good versus Nazi evil and reminds us that for the greater part of the continent, the Allied victory and the 'liberation of Europe' was the beginning of more than fifty years of totalitarian oppression.

*Barbarossa; **Vorkuta; *** Ukraine