Battles for Scandinavia

This is a great summary of WW2 in the Scandinavian theatre and, like all Time-Life Books, the photos are truely excellent. If this aspect of WW2 history is of interest to you, it's a great intro or summary. The book starts of with a good potted bio of Marshall Carl Gustav Mannerheim, the Finnish military commander and one of the truely oustanding generals of WW2 (and one of the greatest "defensive" generals of all time), covers the the 1939-40 Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, then German invasions of Denmark and Norway. Again, with a very good overview of the fighting in Norway and the French-English intervention force. There's another good summary on Sweden's position and Swedish neutrality, then very good coverage (perhaps the best I've read in English) of the Continuation Was between Finland and the Soviet Union, followed by the Lappland War between Finland and Germany. Also covers briefly the Soviet move into Arctic Norway as the Germans withdrew south. All in all, an excellent book.

Before reading this volume, I knew very little about the battles for Scandinavia during WWII. I found these stories to be some of the best in the whole series. Included are the usual Time-Life collection of hundreds of photographs, illustrations, artwork, and maps that supplement clear and interesting narratives.