November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of the Second World War

by Peter Englund

Brought to you by Penguin.

An intimate history of the most important month of World War II, as experienced by the people who lived through it, completely based on their diaries, letters and memoirs.

At the beginning of November 1942, it looked as if the Axis powers could still win the Second World War; at the end of that month, everyone realized that it was just a matter of time before they would lose. In between was El Alamein, Guadalcanal, the French North Africa landings, the Japanese retreat in New Guinea, and the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. It may have been the most important month of the 20th century. In this hugely innovative and riveting historical marvel, Peter Englund has reduced an epoch-making event to its basic the individual experience.

Englund's narrative is based solely on what he learned from the writings of soldiers and citizens alike. Not a word is made up. It didn't have to be, because the material is incredible. In 30 memorable days we a Soviet infantryman at Stalingrad; an American pilot on Guadalcanal; an Italian truck driver in the North African desert; a partisan in the Belarussian forests; a machine gunner in a British bomber; a 12-year-old girl in Shanghai; a university student in Paris; a housewife on Long Island; a shipwrecked Chinese sailor; a prisoner in Treblinka; a Korean sex slave in Mandalay; Albert Camus, Vasily Grossman, and Vera Brittain-40 characters in all. In addition, there are threads about the construction and launching of SS James Oglethorpe, a Liberty ship built in Savannah; the fate of U-604, a German submarine; the building of the first nuclear reactor in Chicago, and the making of Casablanca.

Not since the publication of the author's The Beauty and the Sorrow, which similarly looked at World War I, have we had such a remarkable, mesmerizing work of history.

2023 Peter Englund (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Military History, Audiobook, Military Fiction

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Peter Englund (born April 4, 1957 in Boden) is a Swedish author and historian, and a member of the Swedish Academy since 2002.

Englund was born into a military family in Boden and studied caretaking for two years and then humanistic subjects for another two years in secondary school. He was then conscripted and served 15 months in the Swedish Army at the Norrbotten Regiment located in Boden. He was politically active in his youth and supported the FNL.

Englund studied archaeology, history, and theoretical philosophy at Uppsala University, completing a bachelor's degree in 1983, after which he began doctoral studies in History. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1989 for his dissertation Det hotade huset (English title in the dissertation abstract: A House in Peril) (1989), an investigation of the worldview of the 17th century Swedish nobility. During his period as a doctoral student, he had also worked for some time for the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service ("MUST"), and the year before receiving his doctorate he had published the bestselling Poltava, a detailed description of the Battle of Poltava, where the troops of Swedish king Charles XII were defeated by the Russian army of Tsar Peter I in 1709.

Englund has received the August Prize (1993) and the Selma Lagerlöf Prize for Literature (2002). He was elected a member of the Swedish Academy in 2002.

Englund writes non-fiction books and essays, mainly about history, and especially about the Rise of Sweden as a Great Power, but also about other historical events. He writes in a very accessible style, providing narrative details usually omitted in typical books about history. His books have gained popularity and are translated into several languages, such as German and Czech.

Reviews

[Ilse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure whether Peter Englund’s bold statement that you probably will never have read a book on the Second World War quite like this one is correct, but it is certainly rings true for this non-expert reader, as I haven’t come across such a compulsively readable, compound-eyed and kaleidoscopic account on the course of the Second World War through the eyes of a wide range of people who experienced the events themselves before. I burnt through the almost 600 pages in just a couple of days. An English translation of this book will be published in November 2023.

Based on fragments of the diaries, testimonies, memoirs and letters of 39 individuals directly affected by or involved in them, the world-wide events in the crucial month of November 1942 are stitched together from week to week.

The book starts with a photo album of the dramatis personae whom the reader will meet and ends with an overview of what became of them during or after the war– unsurprisingly fate has not been merciful to all of them.


(Hélène Berr)

Englund lets their experiences speak from themselves without further ado, analysis nor explication, evoking the sense of the moment as it must have been experienced by them, still unsure of the outcome, living in uncertainty, having only limited information. Some names will ring a bell because the reader might be familiar with their writing (Helène Berr, Lidiya Ginzburg, Vera Brittain, Vasily Grossman, Ernst Jünger, Keith Douglas, Albert Camus) –and/or because their fate is well-known (Sophie (and Hans) Scholl).

Englund takes the reader from Berlin to Bandung, from Brussels and Paris to Mandalay, Egypt, Stalingrad, Poland and Leningrad following the military at the various fronts on land, air and water (a military doctor, a British bomber; a Finnish foot soldier at the Svir front; an American pilot in Guadalcanal, a Japanese imperial army naval commander, infantrymen at both sides at the Eastern front,, a partisan in the forests of Belarus) and also journalists, a Korean ‘comfort woman’ in a Japanese brothel in Mandalay; a prisoner of Treblinka, housewives on Long Island and Barrow-in-Furness, a member of the resistance in Brussels and a 12 year old Jewish girl who fled to Shanghai with her family.

Interspersed with the experiences from the selected individuals are threads on the making of the film Casablanca, the building of the first nuclear reactor in Chicago (as a step to the Manhattan project), life on the U-boat 604 and shipbuilding of a Liberty ship under the Emergency Shipbuilding program.


(November 8th, 1942 operation torch)

Pointing at El Alamein, Guadalcanal, operation Torch in North-Africa and the encirclement of the tth Army at Stalingrad, Englund’s key premise that the thirty days of November 1942 effectively were a turning point in the second world war, is persuasive. His point of view also echoes what I remember from reading Herman van Goethem’s 1942: Het jaar van de stilte - in which he brings forth the diary of a museum director understanding the tipping of the balance from the radio news and links the changing attitude from the Belgian government in exile, no longer believing in a negotiated compromise peace, to the international events: only in November 1942, El Alamein showing that the Germans weren’t invincible, the government distanced itself clearly from the policy of administrative collaboration with the occupation force, by making clear to which extent local administrators would be punished after the war.


(Allied troops taking cover at El Alamein)

Obviously, focussing on the emotions and experiences of these individuals makes this book a poignant read. There seemed no limits to the suffering human beings could inflict upon each other in this war. In the face of such boundless suffering, words and comprehension fall short. In his prologue, Peter Englund appositely quotes Primo Levi that those who have seen the face of the Gorgon, did not return, or returned wordless. The rest is silence and remembrance, perhaps through the lasting words of poets:



Canoe

Well, I am thinking this may be my last
summer, but cannot lose even a part
of pleasure in the old-fashioned art of
idleness. I cannot stand aghast
at whatever doom hovers in the background;
while grass and buildings and the somnolent river
who know they are allowed to last for ever,
exchange between them the whole subdued sound
of this hot time. What sudden fearful fate
can deter my shade wandering next year
from a return? Whistle and I will hear
and come another evening, when this boat
travels with you alone towards Iffley:
as you lie looking up for thunder again,
this cool touch does not betoken rain;
it is my spirit that kisses your mouth lightly.

(Keith Douglas)

[Helga چـو ایـران نباشد تن من مـباد · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a textbook narration of the events of the Second World War, but rather a vast collection of memoirs, letters and diary entries of individuals who were firsthand witnesses or were directly involved in the development of the events.
The book’s main focus is on the month of November 1942.

The diverse cast of characters who share their memories and stories in this book are as follows:

-Mansur Abdulin, private, infantry, outside Stalingrad, age nineteen
-John Amery, fascist and defector, in Berlin, age thirty
-Hélène Berr, university student in Paris, age twenty-one
-Ursula Blomberg, refugee in Shanghai, age twelve
-Vera Brittain, author and pacifist in London, age forty-eight
-John Bushby, machine-gunner on a Lancaster bomber, age twenty-two
-Paolo Caccia Dominioni, major, paratroopers, in North Africa, age forty-six
-Albert Camus, author from Algeria, in Le Panelier, age twenty-nine
-Keith Douglas, lieutenant, in tanks, in North Africa, age twenty-two
-Edward “Weary” Dunlop, military doctor and prisoner of war on Java, age thirty-five
-Danuta Fijalkowska, refugee and mother of one child, in Międzyrzec Podlaski, age twenty
-Lidiya Ginzburg, university teacher in Leningrad, age forty
-Vasily Grossman, reporter for Krasnaja Zvezda in Stalingrad, age thirty-six
-Tameichi Hara, commander of a destroyer off Guadalcanal, age forty-two
-Adelbert Holl, lieutenant, infantry, in Stalingrad, age twenty-three
-Vera Inber, poet and journalist in Leningrad, age fifty-two
-Ernst Jünger, army captain and writer, on a journey to the Eastern Front, age forty-seven
-Ursula von Kardorff, journalist in Berlin, age thirty-one
-Nella Last, housewife in Barrow-in-Furness, age fifty-three
-John McEniry, dive-bomber pilot at Guadalcanal, age twenty-four
-Mun Okchu, comfort woman in a Japanese brothel in Mandalay, age eighteen
-Nikolai Obrynba, partisan in White Russia, age twenty-nine
-John Parris, journalist covering the landing in Algeria, age twenty-eight
-Poon Lim, second steward on a British merchant ship, age twenty-four
-Jechiel “Chil” Rajchman, inmate in the Treblinka extermination camp, age twenty-eight
-Willy Peter Reese, private, infantry, on the Eastern Front, age twenty-one
-Dorothy Robinson, housewife on Long Island, age forty
-Ned Russell, journalist covering the campaign in Tunisia, age twenty-six
-Sophie Scholl, university student in Munich, living in Ulm, age twenty-one
-Elena Skrjabina, refugee and mother of two in Pyatigorsk, age thirty-six
-Anne Somerhausen, office worker and mother of three in Brussels, age forty-one
-Leonard Thomas, engineer in a vessel on an Arctic convoy, age twenty
-Bede Thongs, sergeant, infantry, in New Guinea, age twenty-two
-Vittorio Vallicella, private, truck driver, in North Africa, age twenty-four
-Tohichi Wakabayashi, lieutenant, infantry, at Guadalcanal, age thirty
-Charles Walker, second lieutenant, infantry, at Guadalcanal, age twenty-two
-Kurt West, private, infantry, on the Svir Front, age nineteen
-Leona Woods, doctoral student in physics in Chicago, age twenty-three
-Zhang Zhonglou, civil servant on an inspection journey in Henan, age unknown

And here's a poem by Keith Douglas:

Remember me when I am dead
and simplify me when I'm dead.

As the processes of earth
strip off the colour of the skin:
take the brown hair and blue eye

and leave me simpler than at birth,
when hairless I came howling in
as the moon entered the cold sky.

Of my skeleton perhaps,
so stripped, a learned man will say
"He was of such a type and intelligence," no more.

Thus when in a year collapse
particular memories, you may
deduce, from the long pain I bore

the opinions I held, who was my foe
and what I left, even my appearance
but incidents will be no guide.

Time's wrong-way telescope will show
a minute man ten years hence
and by distance simplified.

Through that lens see if I seem
substance or nothing: of the world
deserving mention or charitable oblivion,

not by momentary spleen
or love into decision hurled,
leisurely arrive at an opinion.

Remember me when I am dead
and simplify me when I'm dead.

[Daphna · Rating 5 out of 5]

November 1942 was the tipping point of the war, the month according to Peter Englund, in which the Allies were finally able to curb the relentless advance of the Axis forces.

The originality of the historical account of this one month in 1942, is in its telling through the perspective of 39 individuals affected by the war ranging from housewives in the US and England to a Jew working as a Sonderkonmmando in Treblinka and a young Korean girl forced into a brothel to be raped by tens of Japanese service men every day (I just can’t refer to her as a “comfort woman”, the term used by the Japanese).

We follow soldiers and officers, pilots and naval servicemen, citizens and resistance fighters. We are exposed to all the arenas of this terrible war, from the Sahara desert to Stalingrad, from Guadalcanal to Shanghai, from Treblinka to Cairo, from the gas chambers to the inception of the Manhattan Project.

Each of the characters, those who survived the war and those who didn’t, all left letters, diaries, journals and post war publications which are the source material for this book.
In non-fiction books we often have a sweeping macro view of the war; here we experience the micro view of the war as it impacted each of these individuals. At the same time Englund provides the historical data grounding the personal experience in the major events surrounding it.

It’s an original way of somewhat bringing to life the experience of one individual in this colossal event.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of history I love; the kind of history you can relive with the people who lived through it. Englund, with characteristically thorough research and beautiful writing, describes in living detail the experiences of individual soldiers, housewives, reporters, tail gunners, prisoners, students, submariners, sailors, passivists, slaves, and officers in England, Russia, France, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Poland, Guadalcanal, China, Burma, Indonesia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and the United States, during one of the pivotal months of the Second World War. He has their diaries, memoirs, and biographies, he has their daily newspapers and radio programming, he has their correspondence and their photographs, and out of these he has constructed their stories—what each day in November 1942 was like for them.

Englund takes you through the days of November with Polish refugees somewhere south and east of Warsaw, fighting with a British tank commander in Egypt, or fleeing the British in Egypt, struggling to survive in Treblinka, sweating in the jungle of New Guinea, reflecting on Long Island, under siege in Leningrad, confused in Berlin, along with many others. One enjoyable focus for me was spending time with Ernst Junger, the author of “Storm of Steel” (that book about WWI that the Nazis loved) having second thoughts about his overhyped praise for war, and looking into whether German army commanders feel the same way about the current regime that he does.…
Along the way, with copious footnotes (which are, thankfully, at the bottom of each page, where they should be), Englund gives you additional information that allows you to see with greater detail the context and situation of each day’s events.

Despite being spread throughout the world, these individuals share a common experience, and that is, no one has a clear picture of what is happening, even as it occurs. None of the civilians, of course, but also none of the combatants. For example, neither the Americans nor the Japanese on Guadalcanal, or their sailors in the straits off the island, know what is happening during and after the daily and nightly air and naval engagements. And yet, they go on, patiently taking each day as it comes.

I mentioned the writing at the top of this review. Here are some examples.

On a German supporter of the Nazis:

Ursula von Kardoff emerges as a not unusual type in 1930s Germany. We are talking about someone with only a fleeting interest in politics, someone whose support for Nazism does not arise from high ideals or strong feelings but principally from a profound desire for order, normality, welfare and, it has to be said, comfort. Simultaneously, however, she has never really put the happy 1920s behind her: she is sociable, energetic, vain, self-assured and full of life. She has a sharp mind, but a superficial one.

On a British pacifist writer:

Brittain’s world view was formed by her tragic experiences in the First World War. It’s almost as though she is trapped in an unending loop in which everything leads back to 1914, as if her imagination simply cannot escape the snare of extrapolation that history often sets. Since the grand, glorious words about the struggle to save civilization from barbarism turned out to be manifest lies then, they must also be lies now…

On an SS functionary at Auschwitz:

Quite a few functionaries like Hoss can sometimes show sudden signs of sentimentality when faced with children animals, nature, art and, most of all, music. This isn’t an anomaly; its an important part of their psychopathology.
Their sentimentality is self-centered. It proves to themselves and to others that in spite of the inhumane actions they perform or cause to be performed, they remain, at heart, feeling human beings. In their own eyes, this—along with the absence of explicitly hate-filled attitudes towards their victims—absolves them of moral responsibility. We can imagine that Hoss felt pleased with himself when he went home to his wife and three children later that day.

Englund also quotes diaries directly to great effect, here on an Italian soldier telling of his encounter with a Bedouin elder along the Egyptian coast after the defeat at El Alamein:

“Takfir”[karma or payback]This harsh and monstrous word seems to fill everything around me when the old man goes off. There is takfir in the low clouds, in the column of black smoke rising after the [British fighter] Hurricane has swept past, in the reddened body of a solder lying face down in the dirt by his burned-out truck. Everything is takfir now—all the innumerable, innocent people who have been sacrificed for the will, ambition and hunger for power of a handful of men—like a curse, in this war and every other war.

It is a shame to me that there are many people in the world (some on this very site) who cannot see what is happening in the world right now as those same handful of men, with ambition and hunger for power, push us all towards some new conflict which will ultimately be of their making, but for which the rest of us will pay.

[Jeremy Silverman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among the countless books about the Second World War there are histories that aim to comprehensively cover the war in full (Blood and Ruins by Richard Overy is one outstanding recent example), more focused accounts of a single battle, theater of war, or type of combat, and there are those seeking to convey the human experience of the war by focusing on an individual participant or single group. In contrast to those, this book attempts to cover the experience of regular people in virtually all places that the war touched over the course of one specific month.

Englund acknowledges from the start that the task he has set for himself is ultimately impossible, and in the wrong hands it might have been a mess (although it’s hard to imagine that many others would even try). Yet while he is correct that such a goal is unreachable, Englund nevertheless has achieved something remarkable. Using available diaries, letters, interviews, and many other sources, Englund graphically provides a wide-angled view of the war-effected world not from the leaders, generals, and war planners and without arrow-studded maps of troop movements, but through the eyes of soldiers, sailors, fliers, civilians, refugees, dissidents, journalists, ship builders, homemakers, prisoners, enforced workers, concentration inmates, from all sides and even from no sides as they lived through that month.

The choice of month was not random. Englund assures us it is a key month because while a victory to one side or the other was up for grabs at its beginning, by its end an Allied victory was only a matter of time—although it took nearly three more horrendously bloody years. Opting to show rather than tell, he doesn’t lay out the rationale for this view of November, 1942 in a formal argument. Rather, among the wide variety of people he follows both in the fighting and away from it, Englund uses the personal accounts of battles and events—e.g., Guadalcanal, Stalingrad, North Africa, a key success in the Manhattan Project—to demonstrate this turning point in the war.

Astonishingly, November, 1942 is vast in its scope and at the same time up close and personal.

[Collin Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read in World War II. I love the innovative approach.

[Mewa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeśli miałam jakieś obawy przed rozpoczęciem lektury — szybko odeszły one w cień. Nieznany autor i nieznane wydawnictwo pozwolili mi przyjrzeć się czasowi, o którym wielokrotnie czytałam, ale nigdy nie z punktu tak wielu jednostek, które dopiero w połączeniu dawały wyobrażenie globalne. Gdybym mogła — od teraz regularnie sięgałabym po tego typu tytuły, ale jako że nie są standardem pozostaje mi być niesamowicie wdzięczna za pracę Englunda. Za uczucia oraz wiedzę, jakie zyskałam. To spojrzenie na wojnę, którego mi brakowało. I okej, był to tekst nieco chaotyczny, ale tym razem w chaosie tym tkwił urok.

[Laura Walin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Englund on valinnut haastavan mutta mielenkiintoisen tavan esitellä toisen maailmansodan tapahtumia. Kertoessaan sodan käännekohdaksi myöhemmin määritellystä marraskuusta 1942 hän kuvaa tapahtumia peräti 39 henkilön silmin, eri puolilta maapalloa ja rintamalinjoja, erilaisissa elämäntilanteissa ja asemissa.

Näin suuressa henkilömäärässä on ilmeiset riskinsä, mutta viidensadan sivun mittaisen teoksen aikana kaikki tulevat jollakin tapaa tutuiksi. Riippumatta henkilön elämäntilanteesta kirjasta välittyy hyvin sodan irrationaalisuus, julmuus, tarkoituksettomuus ja turhuus. Koskettavimpana Treblinkan Sonderkommandossa työskennelleen vangin elämästä kertovat jaksot, jossa Englund monotonisesti kertaa tuhoamisleirin rutiinin samoin sanoin päivä toisensa jälkeen.

Tavanomaiseen sotahistoriaan verrattuna teoksen ansiona on myös se, että se antaa - sirpaleisuudestaan huolimatta paradoksaalista kyllä - hyvän kokonaiskäsityksen siitä, kuinka maailmanlaajuisesta sodasta olikaan kysymys. Kirjasta saa myös jonkinlaisia välähdyksiä siitä, kuinka valtava henkinen kuorma sotatoimiin osallistuvilla ja kotirintamalla olleilla on ollut kannettavanaan.

[Petter Wolff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Englund weaves together various accounts of the war during 1942 and manages to show different aspects of it, from the absolutely horrifying (as expected) to the banal. The supposed theme of a change in the winds in this year from inevitable nazi victory to certain defeat works to a degree. The way Englund summarizes written accounts and mixes it with contextual knowledge seems to take away some of the "first hand" feeling of the telling - but I gather that's necessary to make it all fit together. At the end this becomes another well written and researched WWII storytelling. It could encourage reading of some the actual sources - for me it will probably be Grossman's work of (semi-) fiction though.

[Axel W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Väldigt gediget såklart men inte alls lika bra som den om första världskriget. Tyngs av konstiga ordval - ”till yttermera visso”, ”somt” och värst av allt de ständiga ”ej” i stället för ”inte”. Kunde inte ngn av kompisarna i akademien hjälpt till där?

[Aleksandra Gratka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeden wojenny miesiąc, 40 ludzkich losów. Będę pamiętać.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suosikkihistorioitsijoitteni joukkoon lukeutuva ruotsalainen Peter Englund teki muutamia vuosia sitten suuren vaikutuksen kirjallaan Sodan kauneus ja kauheus, jossa hän kuvasi ensimmäistä maailmansotaa tavallisten ihmisten näkökulmasta.

Englundin uudessa teoksessa "Marraskuu 1942 : kohtalonkuukausi tavallisten ihmisten silmin" (WSOY, 2022) on vuorossa toinen maailmansota, samalla mikrohistoriallisella periaatteella mutta hieman pienemmässä mittakaavassa.

Loppuvuosi 1942 merkitsi eräänlaista käännekohtaa toisessa maailmansodassa. Englantilaisten voitto El Alameinissa ja käynnissä olevat taistelut Stalingradissa ja Guadalcanalilla alkoivat kääntää sotaonnea liittoutuneiden hyväksi. Englund kuvaa kohtalokkaan marraskuun tapahtumia eri puolilla maailmaa elävien miesten ja naisten kokemusten kautta. Jotkut heistä ovat jääneet historian lehdille kuten kirjailijat Albert Camus, Vasili Grossman, Ernst Jünger tai saksalaiselle vastarintaliikkeelle kasvot antanut Sophie Scholl , toiset taas ovat jääneet sinne pienempinä sivuviitteinä, joiden tarinat ovat kuitenkin yhtä lailla koskettavia ja kiehtovia - olipa kyse sitten pakolaisesta, perheenäidistä, partisaanista, seksiorjasta, lentäjästä, merimiehestä, maanpetturista tai tiedenaisesta. Kotimaista näkökulmaa kirjaan tuo Syvärillä taistellut suomenruotsalainen Kurt West.

Vaikka tarinalinjoja on useita, pysyy kokonaisuus hyvin koossa. Lukijalla on myös mahdollisuus syventää lukukokemusta tutustumalla vaikka Hélene Berrin Päiväkirjaan 1942-1944 tai Chil Rajchmanin Treblinkan viimeiseen juutalaiseen.

Hieno kirja.

[Anja Hildén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Englund lyckas få ihop 39 helt disparata huvudpersoner till en berättelse om vändningen i andra världskriget. Det tar tid att ta sig igenom men är värt insatsen. Den levandegör verkligen vad ett krig innebär på mikronivå. En bedrift!

[Henrik Lif · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jag gav upp. Läste inte klart. Den är för hattig och hur intressanta livsödena än må vara blir boken bara en samling lösryckta texter.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Englund har skrivit ett panoramaverk, där vi följer 39 människor, såväl militära som civila, kända som okända, genom andra världskrigets kanske mörkaste månad - november 1942. Att det var krigets vändpunkt vet vi ju först i efterhand. En del befinner sig på andra sidan jorden från varandra, andra bara kilometer bort. Alla är verkliga, inget är påhittat. Vi rör oss från Algeriet, till Australien, till Stalingrad, Treblinka, El Alamein, Long Island, Arkhangelsk, Bryssel, över Atlanten, Stilla havet, Indiska oceanen.

Det här är en helt sjukt välresearchad bok. Man blir helt övermannad. Den är ambitiöst skriven med ett oerhört rikt persongalleri. Jag har pausat så mycket för att googla och lärt mig jättemycket. Vissa av personerna lär man känna, oroar sig för - andra får för mig aldrig ansikten. Jag tror att de korta kapitlen och tvära kasten skapar en visst sönderhackad effekt. Vi kastas av och an genom historien. Men som Göran Greider påpekade i en text är det väl inte Englunds utan det förbannade krigets fel.

Två saker jag störde mig på: den överdrivna användningen av ”ej” istället för ”inte” (varför?) och, som ofta - en viss attityd mot Röda armén som märks i språket. Helt normala företeelser i krig beskrivs mycket mer dramatiskt så fort det sker på den sovjetiska sidan. Brittiska och amerikanska soldater är rekryterade/inkallade/mobiliserade - de sovjetiska är tvångsrekryterade. Brittiska och amerikanska soldater skickas ut för rekognoscering - de sovjetiska skickas ut som lockbeten. En ständig ton som att det skulle ligga i Sovjetunionens egenintresse att ta kål på så många av sina egna soldater som möjligt. Osv. Det är lite löjligt. Såklart är det format av en diskurs men jag är förvånad över att Englund inte själv problematiserat detta. Men nog om det.

Peter Englund har tagit sig an en hisnande uppgift och jag läste Onda nätters drömmar med stor behållning. Och jag lärde mig väldigt mycket. Nu vill jag läsa hans bok om första världskriget också.

[abby ❤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely incredible. rtc

[Rafael Riege · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der Autor schafft es sehr gut, die vielen verschiedenen Schicksale in diesem Krieg so gut verständlich darzustellen, ohne dass man den Überblick verliert. Die Schicksale sind teilweise echt belastend, das Buch fand ich dennoch echt fesselnd und sehr informativ.

[Sverker Brundin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tung och omständlig. Ständiga utvikningar i form av fotnötter som hackar upp tempot. Modernt språk med märkliga inslag av ålderdomligare formuleringar som "ej", "förutan", "ävenså" osv som ytterligare stoppar läsflytet.

Boken bygger på historiskt källmaterial, men författaren lägger ständigt till egna tolkningar och skriver ofta läsaren på näsan bl.a. genom att lägga klumpiga känslotolkningar i munnen på personerna som beskrivs. Dessutom genom att inte låta krigets fasor tala för sig självt utan tvunget lägga till olika förstärkningar.

Det ständiga bytet av personer strimlar också sönder uppmärksamheten även om själva tiden är den röda tråden. Det är givetvis en imponerande bedrift att få ihop alltihop men som läsupplevelse är det inget vidare.

[Rick Lewczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendously engaging and immersive.

The format for this book was intriguing to me. Taking the month of November 1942, which is thought to be a key turning point in WWII, and cycle through the experiences of multiple people, combatants and civilians. In many cases the author highlights combatants on both sides of a given conflict. Each highlight is 2-3 pages or less. The result is very fast paced and I was immediately drawn in and felt invested in all the people and their stories. Much more than I expected to be. The book was hard to put down.

[kazda_przeczytana · Rating 4 out of 5]

„(…) złożoność zdarzeń przejawia się najdobitniej na poziomie indywidualnym”

W tej historii ważna jest data - listopad 1942. W powietrzu czuć zapach zmian, załamanie ofensywy Państw Osi. Punkt zwrotny wojny obserwujemy oczami czterdziestu osób, znajdujących się w różnych miejscach, w różnych krajach. Poznajmy między innymi niezłomnego „Wear’ego” Dunlopa organizującego życie w japońskim obozie jenieckim, Hélène Berr studiującą na Sorbonie, panią domu mieszkającą na przedmieściach Nowego Yorku, a nawet twórców Casablanki.

Wspomnienia tych ludzi pokazują, że tak wielki konflikt nie pozostaje bez wpływu na życie każdego, niezależnie od miejsca, w którym przebywa. Dla jednych jest to bezpośrednie narażanie życia w okopach czy na lini frontu, dla innych nieustanny strach przed bombardowaniem. A dla jeszcze innych ból serca i tęsknota za bliskimi wysłanymi do walki daleko od domu. To, że ktoś się wojną nie zajmował, nie interesował, nie znaczy, że wojna nie interesowała się nim.

Autor napisał piękną opowieść, opierając się na wspomnieniach ludzi, na których wojna miała wpływ oraz na rozmowach z nimi. Znalazłam mnóstwo drobnych, ale bardzo ciekawych informacji, których w książkach historycznych na ogół próżno szukać (np. o możliwości używania języka polskiego na okupowanych terenach wyłącznie na potrzeby soft porno, wiedzieliście o tym?).
Nie jest to typowa książka historyczna skupiająca się na dokładnym przebiegu bitew, opisuje raczej uczucia, osobiste myśli ludzi, których wojna dotknęła - jak się okazuje wszystkich, niezależnie czy byli to żołnierze, jeńcy czy zwykli ludzie starający się przeżyć.

Niezwykle pomocne okazały się wyjaśnienia zawarte przez autora w obszernych przypisach - bardzo ułatwiało to czytanie. Jeśli boicie się pogubienia w dużej liczbie bohaterów, to nie ma się czego obawiać. Autor bardzo umiejętnie naprowadza nas na to, gdzie akurat się znajdujemy (a jeśli i tak się pogubimy, możemy skorzystać ze spisu postaci). Właśnie - postaci - co jakiś czas docierało do mnie, że to nie postacie z książki tylko prawdziwi ludzie. Którzy musieli przeżyć i mierzyć się z codziennością - nikt przecież w tamtym czasie nie mógł przewidzieć jak długo jeszcze będzie trwała wojna.

Nie trzeba być pasjonatem książek historycznych, żeby z przyjemnością przeczytać tę pozycję. Bardzo Was zachęcam do wzięcia jej do ręki - jest bardzo dobra i przepięknie wydana.

[współpraca - Wydawnictwo Otwarte]

[Pluma Gulunga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aventurarse en acontecimientos que pueden sobrepasar cualquier intento de meditación profunda o leve es siempre la pasión del ser humano, no importa que hayan pasado centurias o lo titánico de la tarea; es por decirlo de algún modo, una forma de auto búsqueda y curiosidad que comparte cualquier persona desde América hasta Oceanía, es inherente a cualquier credo, creencia política o gusto personal. Siempre volvemos sobre nuestros pasos para rastrear ese pasado que, como Ícaro, queremos alcanzar con ambas manos.

La Segunda Guerra Mundial es quizá uno de los temas más estudiados por los historiadores, y le aseguro que si pasa por una librería verá en su escaparate algún tomo que trata sobre la temática, y si entra a preguntar al dependiente podría llenar bolsas y bolsas de libros que hablan sobre múltiples aristas de la guerra; sin embargo, hoy en día cuando nos inunda tanta información sobre este acontecimiento que partió la humanidad en dos de la manera más literal, podemos aseverar que nos rodea un ruido sordo que nos hace incomprensible sentir cierta simpatía o tolerancia hacia estos temas que no apuntan a la agenda generacional de nuestra época.

Hay algunos -unos pocos- que aún alzan la voz entre la multitud, intentando contar su historia, aquellos que vivieron estos acontecimientos, y de los cuales van desapareciendo detrás del velo del anonimato o de unas cuantas palabras bien escritas para una editorial, obituario o lápida, elijan ustedes, pero que responden a una pregunta que me hicieron una vez y con la que me quedé perplejamente preocupada: "¿por qué escriben tanto sobre la Segunda Guerra Mundial?"

Intentemos a través de esta crítica responder a este interrogante, culmen de una sociedad que ha olvidado la sangre derramada de muchos y el sacrificio de unos pocos, y es que la voz de aquellos que aún estando muertos se eleva a través de páginas amarillentas y quebradizas, y son traídas por algunos estudiosos, para no olvidar, para ser resilientes. Una palabra muy de moda hoy en día, pero cuyo significado pocos entendemos, y que si somos un poco más avispados podemos hacerlo cuando vemos en la tele o escuchamos en la radio, las preocupantes noticias de Asia o Europa, y recordamos que las ascuas de la guerra pueden revivir viejos resquemores.

Noviembre, 1942, al igual que muchos libros sobre el tema, resalta etapas de la guerra, especialmente batallas que abrieron paso a su desenlace. En este caso se destacan varios frentes como El Alemán, Guadalcanal, Stalingrado, entre otros, pero también nos trae hitos históricos como el lanzamiento del primer buque tipo Liberty, el lanzamiento de la película Casablanca o el proyecto Manhattan, pero más que tocar solo los datos, nos trae la desazón, el miedo o la ira plasmada en las palabras de 39 personas que vivieron los acontecimientos de la manera más cruda. Es allí donde se destaca la diferencia de solo contar los hechos de manera informativa a tener retales de conciencia de quienes padecieron la guerra, el hambre y el horror.

Hombres, mujeres y niños se encuentran en estas páginas para narrarnos su experiencia a través de la selección del autor, de lo que fueron sus vidas en ciudades ocupadas o siendo sitio de guerras, pero lo más valioso es que no se centra solo en recordarnos el simple sacrificio, sino también traernos aquellos pequeños instantes valiosos de la cotidianidad de, por ejemplo, un soldado italiano en el frente de guerra africano o un soldado alemán en Stalingrado hasta una ama de casa estadounidense, preocupada por la ración diaria de comida.


Momentos tan íntimos y al mismo tiempo conscientes de que son los sentimientos, por ejemplo, de los soldados-especialmente éstos- los que nos hacen sentir una continuación entre guerras, pues si somos capaces de recordar el sentimiento de muchos de ellos en la Primera Guerra Mundial era de unos muchachos alegres, creyentes en sus ideales que iban a resolver un conflicto como se juega al fútbol, pero que la crudeza de la guerra acaba con esos ideales caballerescos y los convierte en máquinas de matar, después de su primer bautizo de sangre.

Peter Englund logra amalgamar los sentimientos de una época de personajes anónimos como de famosos, en ellos encontraremos personajes conocidos como Albert Camus, Vasily Grossman y los hermanos Scholl, pero también de soldados anónimos como lo sería aún hoy en día Mansur Abdulin o Willy Peter Reese, quien a partir de su cotidianidad nos componen una narración de un mundo que se ha ido a pique y cuyo final es incierto. No es uno de esos cuentos idealistas y francamente alegres de Hollywood o una narración que deja bien parado a ningún ejército —ni siquiera el estadounidense— sino que nos muestra los yerros propios de capitanes y soldados rasos, y claro, en consecuencia, también la muerte y la locura.

En el libro encontramos situaciones dolorosísimas como la de Mun Ockchu, quien es obligada por el hambre a ser una esclava sexual del ejército Nipón, pero también situaciones de tensa calma como la que vive Anne Somerhausen en una Bruselas ocupada por los nazis, y que nos hace conectar no solo con los fusiles, sino también con esa Europa desgarrada por la guerra y con unos estados que han empezado a tambalearse en sus tronos de acero; mientras que la ingenua América entra en la guerra de forma más bien patosa.

1942, es el año que define un cambio en el rumbo de la guerra, es la primera vez que los nazis empiezan a caer como fichas en un tablero de ajedrez, y donde la perspectiva triunfalista del nacionalsocialismo se empieza a resquebrajar después de los primeros triunfos de que unos ejércitos aliados golpeados por la guerra rápida, es en ese momento donde se empieza a corregir el destino de la guerra hacia caminos inesperados y se avizora a un final de las ideologías.

Este libro es quizá uno de los pocos que he leído que intenta explorar el ámbito humano más allá de la simple idea de adherirse a la casuística, es también un grito desesperado por entender al ser humano, sus reacciones y sentimientos de la manera más carnal, y explicar de algún modo y sin predeterminación, la importancia de la participación de las personas en un conflicto que sobrepaso fronteras terrestres y marítimas, y para quien aún se pregunte el porqué escriben tanto sobre la Segunda Guerra Mundial, quizá echarle un vistazo a este libro le dé una respuesta que le convenza sobre la importancia de intentar ser empáticos y entenderse también como resultado del conflicto.

Lee mas opiniones literarias en www.plumagulunga1.blogspot.com

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough review to make; I’ve had trouble deciding whether it rated anything from 3.25 to 4.25 stars. On one hand, the approach of the book—examining the entire month of November 1942 via the detailed diaries and recollections of 40 individuals, both military and civilian, from across the globe—is a highly ambitious and innovative one. I also wholeheartedly agree with the author’s assertion that this month was the definitive turning point in WWII, as it saw unprecedented Allied victories from Libya to Guadalcanal, Stalingrad, and New Guinea.

However, that same structure that lends the book so much personal color and intimate detail also makes it genuinely exhausting to read. With 40 distinct narrators, we rarely spend more than a paragraph or two with one before rocketing across the world to join up with another character from a completely different country, gender, age, and walk of life. As the reader, it’s almost impossible to gain a solid, comfortable footing at any given point. Concurrently—and to help solve this issue—I think that several of the perspectives could’ve been cut without any real loss. I don’t really need to know how several random housewives in Britain and the U.S. spent the day staring out the window or reading the paper, or how some useless British pacifist felt when their book manuscript was rejected on 14 November, or how a new ending to Casablanca was suggested. These stories look deeply trivial when set against some of the other narrators, such as a Jew in Treblinka concentration camp or Australian diggers fighting in the green hell of the Kokoda Trail.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic premise and well written, this book conveys the global scope of a World War better than any I've read. The individuals profiled represent wide-ranging, diverse backgrounds, and the historical scholarship underlying the book must be immense. A real achievement.

Now for what were, for me, drawbacks: Incessant battle scenes that were difficult to distinguish; a vast array of characters also difficult to distinguish; and constant footnotes that were largely trivial and distracting. This is also a very dark book, for obvious reasons, and at over 400 pages it takes a toll.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on WWII based on personal diaries, letters and memoirs written about events in November of 1942 which is considered to be a turning point of the war. The book records the personal thoughts and observations of British, Australian, Japanese, Russian, German and Finnish individuals representing both military and civilian points of view. The writing gives a unique perspective on the war and provides a deeper understanding of the participants view of the conflict.

[Gary Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books on WWII but none quite like this. The author does an amazing job of linking stories of individuals, both military and civilian, and their day to day struggles through just one month of a war that spanned many years. It also cleverly goes back and forth across all continents and theatre’s of war. I felt myself compelled to keep turning the pages. Another nice aspect of the book is each snippet from each character for specific days is kept short which I felt also helped the book flow. Excellent read for anyone who either has not read much on WWII or for the accomplished historian!

[Arvid Hamrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jag är Peter Englund-fanboy, och här är han som bäst. Oerhörda skeenden skildrade ur förstapersonsperspektiv. Populärhistoria kan ofta bli lite torr och svårsmält, men det här var istället en bladvändare.

[Mikael Forsberg Brogren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Englund tecknar levande och vackert olika människors livsöden på ett sätt som gör att du nästan tror du varit med dem på slagfältet, på skeppet eller i flygplanet. Berättelserna berör och gör att katastrofen som var andra världskriget känns nära, vilket gör boken till en mycket viktig berättelse i en tid där dessa saker alltmer upplevs som något abstrakt.

[Cristofer Enroth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Obligatorisk läsning för alla, utom möjligen de som själva minns andra världskriget i första person.

[Mats Carlsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ja, "Onda nätters drömmar" av Peter Englund är en mycket gripande och bra bok. November 1942 är "huvudpersonen" och utifrån 39 olika personers synvinklar skapar Englund en fascinerande mosaik. Just denna månad var ju på många sätt de dagar då kriget vände; i början av månaden hade axelmakterna tagit i princip hela Västeuropa, Rommels Afrikakår hade trängt tillbaka engelsmännen nästan hela vägen till Kairo, de tyska ubåtarna sänkte enorma tonnage på Atlanten och tyskarnas sjätte armé hade näst intill tagit hela Stalingrad; I Asien hade japanerna lagt under sig nästan hela Sydostasien och hotade såväl Australien som Hawaii. När månaden led mot sitt slut så hade de allierade landstigit i nordvästra Afrika, Afrikakåren var på flykt tillbaka till Libyen, sjätte armén var omringad i Stalingrad och i öst så hade japanerna sakta börjat att pressas tillbaka mot hemlandets öar. Efter ett år av krig så hade den enorma amerikanska industrin ställts om till krigsproduktion och rustningen av den amerikanska armén hade växlat upp och färdigutbildade förband började bli färdiga för strid.

Det är en grannlaga uppgift att använda så många olika perspektiv som Englund gör, ibland så kan det vara svårt att följa den röda tråden men det tycker jag att han klarar bra. Det är mycket intressant att få följa soldater på alla fronter och civilpersoner i såväl ockuperade som fria länder. Hur mycket visste och förstod en berlinbo om kriget och utrotningslägren i öst? Hur känns det att vara så hungrig att man i princip kan göra vad som helst för att överleva? Detta är bara två exempel på frågor som Englund försöker besvara genom sina 39 bidragsgivares iakttagelser och tankar.

Som ledamot i Svenska Akademin så verkar Englund ha tagit på sig att hålla liv i lite gammaldags ord och uttryck, och därför rekommenderar jag varmt att läsa med SAOL nära till hands. Du kan bl a lära dig vad en robinsonad är, ett ord som jag trots flitigt läsande över 50 år inte visste vad det innebar.

Som helhet så tycker jag att boken är mycket läsvärd och 538 sidor flyter snabbt förbi med sina hemska, djupa och gripande innehåll om den mänskliga historiens värsta nederlag.

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

November, 1942 by Peter Englund
A history of the month that symbolizes, the turning point and to a significant extent was a month which, on several fronts, it became evident that the war against Britain and the US and China and Russia would not be lost (although not the war against the Jews).

The story is told through the eyes of generally low level participants on the various fronts, from North Africa, China, Stalingrad and the Caucausus, the German home front, the submarine war, the air war, Guadalcanal in the Solomons, Indonesia, Papau New Guinea, the siege of Leningrad, the Finnish border war, the convoys to Murmansk, and the partisan fronts in Byelorussia, and also a Sonderkommando “dentist” at a death camp and a Korean comfort woman in Burmese brothel.

Interspersed are thumbnails of the family of the tiny White Rose group, military egos, bureaucracy and censorship… but the main stories are that the beginning is over and an ending will be dictated against the Axis
(even if it’s nearly 3 years away….

One travels over the month, repeatedly from one site to the next; it is dizzying, but also becomes evident, especially in North Africa, Guadalcanal, Stalingrad, on the sea and in the air … that against the overwhelming productive capacity of the US and Russia, the Germans and the Japanese can’t win (although this will not happen before the remainder of the eventual total of 6 million European Jews are shot by Einsatztruppen, killed by collaborators, or gassed or worked or starved to death.)

First Chapter: November 1-9: Plans Great and Small

Shanghai, Berlin, Guadalcanal
12 year old Ursula Blomberg, from Germany

2nd Lt. Charles Walker at Guadalcanal

Mun Okchu, a Korean slave comfort woman in Mandalay

Ernest Dunlop, Australian dr- POW in Java.
to Makasura prison camp near Batavia-Jakarta
John McEniry, 24 yr old marine pilot relieving squadron at Guadalcanal airstrip
From the Japanese side:
“The calculations done by the leaders are incompetent, their plans are inflexible and their reliance on the selfless fighting spirit of their soldiers is characterized by thoughtlessness, cynicism even.”
“It is here on this island in the South Pacific that the gulf between Japan’s grandiose imperial ambitions and the modest resources available to achieve them becomes clearly apparent.”


The Eastern Front:
The siege of Leningrad:
- [ ] Lidiya Ginzburg
- [ ] Vera Inber… goes along with party line and chooses to be on the front




Stalingrad
Willy Peter Reese in Rhzev salient

Adelbert Holl, Lt.; age 23 on the German side, approaching the Volga;
Mansur Abdulin, on the Don 60 miles NW of Stalingrad, age 19


Partisans in Belarus
Nikolai Obrynba, a Ukrainian art student, ex POW
now in Dubrovsky Partisan Brigades




Encirclement of Paulis’ army
Two Romanian armies, the Third and the Fourth, were involved in the Battle of Stalingrad, helping to protect the northern and southern flanks respectively, of the German 6th Army as it tried to conquer the city of Stalingrad defended by the Soviet Red Army in mid to late 1942. Underpowered and poorly equipped, these forces were unable to stop the Soviet November offensive (Operation Uranus), which punched through both flanks and left the 6th Army encircled in Stalingrad. The Romanians suffered enormous losses, which effectively ended their offensive capability on the Eastern Front for the remainder of the
North Africa: El Alamein

Keith Douglas: unlike the colonel (who) represents what he himself has never had: money, traditions, good family, private schools, cricket, fox-hunting in red coats—above all, the charm and self-confidence that comes with being born into the elite…..

Vittorio Valicella, Italian who’s been in N Africa already 20 months

The making of Casablanca film

John Parris, 28, an embedded American journalist accompanying W Africa invasion: Casablanca, Oran and Algiers


The Air war…. from Battle of Britain to air war over Germany
Ursula von Kardorff’s party in Berlin… defeatist talk
John Bushby, gunner on a bomber

Nella Last, 53 in Women’s Voluntary Service
The pacifist writer Vera Brittai
Battle of the Atlantic
Horst Hoetring, Ctn. U of Boat 604 is depth charged

Building more tonnage than the Germans can sink … “Liberty Ships

Additional Fronts
Kurt West at Hesingfors in E Karelia, on the static Svir front Swedish speaking Finn

The siege of Leningrad
Lidiya Ginzburg, 40, facing her 2nd siege winter
Population down from 3.3 to 0.8 millions

The extermination camps
Treblinka:
Jechiel Rajchman, a 28-year-old Jew from Ostrów Lubelski…survived already 3 weeks
Becoming dentist to do gold extractions 14,000 murders per day
Two specialists sorted the metals, especially white gold, red gold, platinum and ordinary metal.”

Helene Barr, a Jew in occupied Paris

Leonard Thomas Seaman and engine room mechanic in Archangelsk
“Despite the endless propaganda proclaiming armed fraternity in the war against Germany, both sides view each other with suspicion”’

Elena Skrjabina is a survivor. a refugee from Leningrad, in the Caucuses (Pyatigorsk) now behind German line

Dorothy Robinson, Long Island housewife with an 18 year old son

Bede Thongs in Papua new Guinea. Australia wins first victory over Japanese
Almost fighting Paupau aborigines…’
“improvised pidgin: “Australians, Australians. Not Japanman. We all bilong friends. Bilong Papua New Guinea bois. Not Japanman. Friends. We’re your friends.”[

Anne Somerhausen in occupied Brussels

Danuta and Jozek Fijalkowsku, from Warsaw, now in Czemirniki, near Lublin
Jozrk had worked in Oswiecim had seen death as a condition of every day life
and his soul was scorched and withered .
Danuta doesn’t want to hear about what is happening to the Jews

The Ausland Press Club in Berlin :von Kardorffs are an old Prussian aristocratic family.
Varying attitudes towards Nazis
November 8-15: Encouraging News

- [ ] On the North African Front: successful landings in Casablanca, Algiers, Oran
- [ ] In Guadalcanal… an airfield from which to attack Japanese occupiers
- [ ] IN Stalingrad .. the counteroffensive about to begin
- [ ] In the Air: battle of Britain now terror bombing of Germany
- [ ] In the Atlantic: more ships being built than being sunk
- [ ] The war against the Jews of Europe continues … pacifist movement in England is shutting down; Russian retreat has stopped….
- [ ] Collaborators now face Partisans
November 16-22: it can be called the turning point
Bombing of Genoa came first; asserts that strategic bombing actually worked to help get rid of Fascists in Italy from bottom up…

Manhattans project creates Chicago Pile under Stagg Field by end of month…

Australians are overcoming starving Japanese soldiers in Paupau-New Guinea

Hara’s damaged destroyer Amatsukaze will be down for at least a month: “I knew that the answer lay in the enemy’s tremendous industrial capacity, so far superior to Japan’s, and realized how embarrassing my question was. An awkward silence followed.”