ISBN: 978-1-54545-147-9
Pages: 271

Introduction and Acknowledgments; Charts and Maps Symbology, Keys, and Abbreviations; Bibliography; Index

Appendices: Battle for the Baltic Coast; Basic Weapons List for the German Army; Wodrig SS Evaluation Report; Warsaw Surrender Document; Tables of Organization and Equipment Charts; Order of Battle Charts; Maps

   We have a new champ! While Major Robert M. Kennedy held the championship for fifty years with The German Campaign in Poland, 1939, William Russ has produced a book which takes the throne as the best English-language work on operations of the German Heere during Case White. Because his book focuses almost entirely on the German perspective, however, Russ is not in the running for best work on the Polish side of the campaign.
   That's perfectly understandable, because Zaloga and Madej have already written a fine volume from the Polish viewpoint. Case White neatly complements their book, and it adds more information from the German side than offered by Kennedy or anyone else.
   That information includes several important appendices, but it begins with six chapters of text:

• Plans and Preparations
• Organization of Combat Units
• Combat Operations, September 1st - 5th: The Breakthrough
• Combat Operations, September 6th - 12th: The Exploitation
• Combat Operations, September 13th - 28th: The Annihilation
• Combat Operations, September 29th - October 6th: The Consolidation

   The first chapter outlines in five and a half pages the evolution of German military planning for the invasion and how that planning was affected by political and diplomatic events. The second chapter, a page or two longer, briefly describes the organization of German ground units. This information is very much amplified by the organigrams and tables in Appendix E and Appendix F.
   The real heart of the book comprises the four operational chapters. Within each chapter, separate headings deal individually with each German army group on a day-by-day basis. For example, the second chapter begins with "Army Group North: September 6th," "Army Group South: September 6th," "Army Group North: September 7th," and "Army Group South: September 7th." Each of these sections averages anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages in length.
   Here's a typical section from the second chapter on operations:

Army Group North: September 8th

   In the city of Bydgoszcz, there was some civilian unrest and some German units came under fire during the night. The source of the gunfire was never determined.
   The 4th Army began its redirected march direction down both sides of the Vistula River and only encountered weak enemy resistance. Air reconnaissance discovered one Polish division marching in irregular order on the road between Kruschuitz, Sompolno and Dabre.
   On the right wing of the 3rd Army, the I Army Corps was hastening its effort to reach the crossing of the Bug River at Wyszkow. The bridges at that location were, however reportedly already destroyed. The Corps Wodrig was approaching the town of Ostrow-Mazowiecka and the 1st Cavalry Brigade was between both the I Army Corps and Corps Wodrig at the Brok River. Panzer Division Kempf, after passing through Rozan over Narew River, turned to the northeast towards Lomza with the intention of cutting off Polish forces retreating southwards from the Narew River. This mass of Polish troops was what was left of the Polish 18th Infantry Division trying to hold back the XXI Army Corps. When Panzer Division Kempf drove some 15 miles northeast without encountering any major enemy forces, the division was ordered by the corps to turn back to the south and rejoin the corps on its advance to Ostrow-Mazowieka. Also the bridgehead at Wizna (13 miles east of Lomza) was determined to be unusable by large forces because of the difficult terrain. Therefore. Brigade Lotzen and 20th Motorized Division would cross the Narew River at Lomza and the 10th Panzer Division would try and force a bridgehead directly below Wizna.
   Brauchitsch arrived at the army group's headquarters in the morning to be apprised of its current situation. Bock told the army commander in chief that operations were running smoothly, but he did not agree with Brauchitsch's idea of pivoting 3rd Army's axis of advance on Ostrow-Mazowieka as this would not give much room for Group Falkenhorst and the XIX Army Corps for maneuvering. After much discussion. Bock finally convinced Brauchitsch to turn the direction of the 3rd Army in a more southerly direction. With that, orders were issued for the future operations for the army group for the next few days. It stated that the 3rd Army was to continue offensive operations over the Bug River between Wyszkow and Malknia to cut off any enemy formations retreating east of Warsaw. The XIX Army Corps was to advance towards Siedlce and then southeastward and that the corps was now under the direct control of the army group. Meanwhile, the 23rd and 73rd Infantry Divisions were to be prepared for rail transport so that they could be moved to eastern East Prussia as soon as possible. Later, Bock amended the order to move the 73rd, as he felt that the division should stay in the Polish Corridor for security reasons. Bock also considered halting the II Army Corps advance because it might interfere with the friendly forces advancing onto Warsaw.
   The army group's intentions for the next day were for the 21st Infantry Division to cross the Narew River at Nowogrod to clear out any remaining enemy forces in that area. The XIX Army Corps, consisting of the 10th Panzer and 20th Motorized Divisions and the Lehr Reconnaissance Battalion were to assume positions on the left flank of the 3rd Army. The XIX Corps was to push through the Wizna-Zambrow region towards Siedlce making the Warsaw-Bialystok railline the next day's goal. The 10th Panzer Division was to cooperate with Brigade Lotzen at Wizna to help overcome the bunker position on the east bank of the Narew River.

   The four operational chapters conclude with an entry for Army Group South on 3 through 6 October. That still leaves about the half the book for the appendices.
   The first appendix, running to a little over four pages, recounts "Battle for the Baltic Coast: The Lonely Battle of Corps Kaupisch" which was conducted outside of the author's daily coverage of the army groups.
   Appendix B, of five pages, provides a paragraph of information for each German weapon within an inventory including rifles, machine guns, mortars, anti-tank guns, AA guns, infantry guns, artillery, tanks, and armored cars.
   The short third appendix reproduces an English translation (by Leo Niehorster) of an unfavorable assessment of the readiness and performance of SS troops attached to Corps Wodrig.
   The fourth appendix amounts to a single page of the Warsaw ceasefire protocol (also translated by Leo Niehorster).
   Appendix E comprises fifteen very detailed and attractive TOE diagrams (most with accompanying tables) covering all the various kinds of German formations involved in the campaign in Poland, as well as the three Slovak infantry divisions that joined the invasion. Appendix F continues in the same vein with more than twenty very nice organigrams showing OBs for German army groups, armies, and air fleets on various dates, plus six organigrams for Polish armies. All this excellent TOE and OB material would by itself be worth the price of admission.
   Russ adds even more value to his book with several dozen cleanly executed strategic and tactical maps of the campaign. Two excellent atlases of the Polish campaign already exist (see below), and the cartography in Case White is limited strictly to black and white. Nevertheless, the level of craftsmanship is so high that the considerable amounts of detail retain superior legibility even without use of color. In our experience, very few accounts of operations have been lavished with such large numbers of relevant, detailed, readable maps. As much as we love the two atlas volumes, the cartography here makes those books largely unnecessary for all but the most devoted historians of the campaign.
   Finally, Russ includes footnotes, a thorough bibliography, and an index.
   With workmanlike text (marred only by a few grammatical and punctuation errors that should have been caught during copyediting; see, for example, the first paragraph of the first chapter) and superlative supporting material in the appendices, Case White completely transcends limitations of the "hobbyist" press (such as its copy-shop binding and plain-jane cover), and without a doubt deserves a position in the top rank of books on the invasion of Poland.
   Indeed, with publication of this book, English-language coverage of the opening round of the Second World War seems fairly complete. Excluding for the moment other worthy titles that include the Polish campaign as part of broader coverage (such as Maier), as well as a few that only look at narrower aspects of the campaign (such as Sword), adding Russ to the following bookshelf makes for a very thorough treatment of the battle:

• Anonymous. Wojna Obronna Polski 1939. Warsaw: Wojskowy Instytut Historyczny, 1995. (Atlas of Poland's Defensive War of 1939)
• Cynk, Jerzy. The Polish Air Force at War: The Official History, 1939-1943. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 1998
• Kennedy, Robert M. The German Campaign in Poland, 1939. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1956
• Thies, Klaus-Jurgen. Der Zweite Weltkrieg im Kartenbild, vol 1: Der Polenfeldzug 1939. Osnabruk: Biblio Verlag, 1989 (Atlas of German forces in the Polish campaign)
• Zaloga, Stephen and Victor Madej. The Polish Campaign, 1939. New York: Hippocrene, 1985

   As the author notes in his Introduction, about the only subject missing from the literature is a detailed examination of the role of the Luftwaffe in the September campaign.
   In any event, Case White turns out to be a thoroughly praise-worthy effort that absolutely belongs in the hands of anyone with an interest in the German invasion of Poland. Quite nice, and perhaps Mr. Russ will turn his considerable skills to the invasion of Norway and displace the venerable Ziemke book as the best English-language work on the Heere in that very interesting campaign.
   Highly recommended
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from the Nafziger Collection.