Hitler's First Conquests

Austria, the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia, the demilitarized Rhineland were bloodless. His first bloody strike east crushed Poland. To the west? On May 10, 1940, the Wehrmacht strikes The Netherlands which Hitler expects will capitulate within a day or two. He is mistaken. Grebbe Line defenders exhibit legendary Dutch stubbornness, Hitler's airborne troops drop onto Rotterdam and The Hague and meet fierce opposition, and outnumbered and outgunned Dutch troops change—unknowingly at the time—the course of WWII and world history.

A stout-hearted queen and a Carmelite priest stand up to Nazism, and resistance fighters' cunning and courage prove lethal for some of history's lesser-known bad guys. Two girls emigrate from Romanian farms to Paris and then Amsterdam and make life-altering choices. A young American employee of a global steamship company finds himself swept into this maelstrom. This history-rich saga provides perspectives little known to Americans.