The War in the West

The War in the West is James Holland’s large-scale reinterpretation of the Second World War from the perspective of the western Allies and Axis powers. Volume One, Germany Ascendant 1939–1941, covers the opening campaigns from Poland and Norway through France, the Battle of Britain, the Mediterranean and Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union.

Volume Two, The Allies Fight Back 1941–1943, follows the conflict’s expansion after Pearl Harbor through the bomber offensive, Atlantic war, North Africa, the Eastern Front and the invasion of Sicily. The series links industrial capacity, logistics and operational choices to individual experience, challenging explanations that treat German weapons and battlefield performance as separate from the economic system sustaining them.