Recommended reading on Slovakia

[Marcus Wendel]

The idea of this sticky is to collect recommendations on good books dealing with Slovakia during the WW2 era.

Please post the title, author and a short (or long) explanation as to why you feel that particular title deserves to be included.

/Marcus


If you buy through the below links you not only get the books you want but you also support the forum while shopping!
* AHF Bookstore
* Amazon.com (UK, Germany)
* Abebooks

[pavel michalek]

Slovenský štát v obrazoch (2008) by Ivan Kamenec

This book offers general informations about Slovakian Republic (1939–1945) with large photo collection, however it´s in Slovakian or Czech language only, though it´s still a worth reading for those, who are interested in all aspects of Slovakia during WW2, like culture, foreign policy, army, everyday life etc.

I wish this book would be in more languages one day, as well as reading on other Minor Axis Nations would have such clear, general, mostly unbiased infos combined with so many photos.

front cover.jpg

back cover.jpg

[Sid Guttridge]

I would recommend:

Axis Slovakia: Hitler's Slavic Wedge, 1938-1945 (Hardcover) by Mark W. Axworthy.

This was an Axis Europa publication and I see it is still available on Amazon.

The detailed and well-written text seems very well informed both about military organization and combat operations and is a statistical gold mine.

Axis Slovakia is certainly markedly better than the only other English-language publication on the subject, Germany's First Ally: Armed Forces of the Slovak State 1939-1945 published by Schiffer. The latter seems to be based on information already available in Czechoslovakia before the fall of Communism and is therefore weak on the years 1941-44, which I imagine are of most interest on AHF. By contrast, Axis Slovakia is particularly strong over those years.

Axis Slovakia suffers from poor editing, poor maps, poor drawings and some strangely uninformative photo captions, but Germany's First Ally is not especially impressive in some of these areas either.

If you can only afford one, definitely go for Axis Slovakia. However, given that there are only two books in English on the subject, what the hell, why not get both!

Sid.

[Treve]

The key work is:

Yeshayahu Jelinek's The Parish Republic: Hlinka s Slovak People’s Party, 1939–1945

Also crucial if dated is J.K.Hensch's Die Slowakei und Hitlers Ostpolitik

Also - though not a book - Jellinek, Y. “Stormtroopers in Slovakia: The Rodobrana and the Hlinka Guard.” JCH 6:3
(July 1971): 97–119.

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/259881?uid=3738256&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=56301989233

[1900]

Best trilogy obout Slovak army fighting on Eastern front money can buy.
Author: Pavel Micianik
Language is Slovak, but with many pictures.
Hardback - all three of them

First part - general info about Slovak units fighting communism in soviet Union - operation Barbarossa with a lovely reproductions of ww2 published drawings of soldiers, division symbols etc.


Second - about Security division on Ukraine and present day Belarus + about railway pioneers.


And third part - main subject here is a Fast Division. Reads like an "action book". Published in 2009.


Some pictures from first part.



From private to captain


From major up

[1900]

And something for basic study from Osprey. Info about Slovakia pages 25 - 28 plus some pictures of uniforms and equipment. Many reprints starting from 1983 till 2001. Love that picture of smiling Hungarian. BTW many Slovaks were fighting in hungrian army and paid very high price.

[1900]

And great book about slovak tanks afv. I believe there is same book from Kliment in english. Detailed info about Lt 35 or Pz 35. Lots of informations about romanian, magyar or bulgarian armour as well.

[1900]

Lt vz.34/40

Polish publisher - Wydavnictvo Militaria, with some english text.

Nice info about Lt vz. 40. - the only tank produced for Slovak republic only.



Lt vz. 40 from book:

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi 1900,

Where can we get Pavel Micianik's trilogy?

Cheers,

Sid

[KACKO]

Actually, 4th just came out.

And you can order it here:

http://www.martinus.sk/?uMod=list&uTyp= ... l+Micianik