Dunkirk (Re-Issue)

by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore

Book Overview

In May of 1940, the armies of Nazi Germany were marching through France. In the face of this devastating advance, one of World War II'e(tm)s greatest acts of heroism would be a retreat: the evacuation... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0241972264
• ISBN13: 9780241972267
• Release Date: October 2015
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 720 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 1.7" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

High tide of British history

The attention to detail and copious cross-referencing of notes and maps is superb. 506 pages of text, 21 maps (including a detailed map drawn up in a prisoner-of-war camp of the defense of Cassel, 26-27 May), 4 pages of appendices, 96 pages of hundreds of detailed notes (almost a book in themselves), 16 pages of sources and bibliographic notes, 24 pages of 93 photos, in 36 chapters and an epilogue that follows key players, some through to the end of their lives. And the narrative is all the more powerful, much of it drawn from diaries from various military units, British and German. The basic story is well-known by any student of (military or British) history, yet the details are worthy of another telling. "Dunkirk: covers about eight weeks, as it opens with confusing and discarded intelligence, German recovered plans, and spies before German invasion in May 1940 and closes with the "worst naval disaster" in English history, the sinking of the packed SS Lancastria on 17 June. Sebag-Montefiore records the ruthless massacres of Belgian civilians and British soldiers, the horrid conditions faced by the wounded, the gallant defense of absolutely hopeless but effective rearguard actions, the gallantry of Victoria Cross winners. Most of the tension is in the incriminations between the British and the French, the former trying to salvage something for its later defense (including its air force) and the latter having no hope for tomorrow, hoping against hope. There are heroes and cowards, doctors and nurses, "common" soldiers and "gentlemen", and mostly there is the absolute chaos of France, May 1940, leading up to one of the greatest rescue efforts of all time, with about 300,000 BEF and French troops pulled off Dunkirk mostly at night in late May and early June and another 150,000 rescued before the fall of France by the end of June. By recovering its troops and husbanding its air force for the soon-to-arrive Battle of Britain, Britain surrendered much of its equipment and left thousands of British (and French, Dutch, Belgian, and German) dead on the fields of France, to be able to fight - and win - another day. Yes, the chaos and volume of history makes the reading difficult to follow at times - so many men, so many details, so many directions - but it is a style worthy of the story and rewarding to the persistent reader.

The Fall of France

I saw this book in the local bookstore, and picked it up because I have always been interested in the early part of WWII. Paging through it, I was impressed to find that it did not only cover Operation Dynamo (the rescue of British and French troops from the Dunkirk area) but covered the entire scope of the fall of France, including some of the post Dunkirk operations (such as the surrender of the 51st Division at St Valery). I have just finished reading the book. It is outstanding - I have quite a few books on the fall of France, including Horne's "To Lose a Battle" and Schirer's "The Collapse of the Third Republic", but this, from a military history point of view, is the best I have ever seen. The author covers the action down to about Battalion level; in many cases, down to company level. He is outstanding on the events surrounding the breakthrough along the Muese at Sedan and Dinant. Reading Horne, one misses the fine grained detail of what happens : this author explains the events very well indeed. In "To Lose a Battle", Horne points out that the official French version of the events of May 1940 had not been released when he wrote the book, and that it was difficult or impossible to consult French military sources. Sebag-Montefiore seems to have had unprecedented access to French military archives, as well as rooting out accounts in such strange places as Czechoslovakia and Russia. Sebag-Montefiore has also made excellent use of primary sources, conducting many interviews with participants of the events he writes about. The book is very extensively footnoted (or rather, end noted) - probably enough to satisfy the most rigorous investigation. There are a few small niggles - in the beginning of the book, Sebag-Montefiore disparages the French 25mm AT gun, which I understand was pretty good at the time; he also makes the comment that the "raison d eitier" for armoured divisions was to fight other armoured divisions, which conclusion I disagree with most strenuously. Fortunately though, there is none of the old complaints about "how useless the 2 pounder" (British anti - tank gun) was. An outstanding book. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the period and the theater.

Not Your Standard Take on Dunkirk

For well over sixty years, British and American readers have been presented with the view that the successful evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk between 26 May and 3 June 1940 was a tremendous triumph and "a morale victory" that allowed Britain to stay in the war. Most historical accounts have focused primarily on the actual evacuation and the role of "the small ships" that came to rescue Britain's hard-pressed troops before Dunkirk fell to the approaching German forces. In Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man, the author takes a decidedly different approach and instead focuses more on the series of tactical actions fought to maintain the Dunkirk perimeter, particularly the desperate rearguard actions fought by units that were later all but forgotten in the post-war histories. This book falls somewhere between a somewhat comprehensive history and a collection of first-person tactical accounts, but it succeeds in painting a portrait of two desperate weeks of ground fighting in the early stages of the Second World War that most readers will find unfamiliar. Overall, the book is well-written - even exciting at times - punchy and impeccably researched. There is a whiff of British biases in this book (particularly against the French) that some readers will resent, but it provides insights into the campaign that rarely, if ever, appear in other accounts. Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man consists of 36 sequential chapters, divided into two main sections, the German attack and the Evacuation. The first section is meant to put the evacuation in context but it is oddly put together and does not altogether succeed. In the second chapter, the author discusses the arrival of the BEF in France in late 1939 and the numerous equipment and training deficiencies. However, the author misses his chance to introduce the main British players (Lord Gort, Brooke, Montgomery) or to even sketch the BEF's order of battle. This will confuse many readers later on, as leaders and generals just begin to "appear" when the action begins. The author then shifts to spend a couple chapters on the Mechelen Affair and Dutch intelligence efforts to provide early warning on the up-coming German offensive. Among other things, this book reinforces the impression that Dutch and Belgian stupidity and their unwillingness to cooperate with the Anglo-French staffs until their borders were crossed contributed greatly to the disaster that followed. The author then shifts gears to cover the German breakthrough at Sedan and the French collapse, which is very similar to material presented in Karl-Heinz Frieser's The Blitzkrieg Legend (2005). I found these chapters gratuitously anti-French and unconnected to the main narrative - it was as if the author made a detour to flog the poor performance of the French 9th Army in order to make the BEF's last-stands appear all the more heroic. This first section concludes with the failed counterattacks at Arras (very well done, with

Stories of Bravery

This book is a well written collection of individual British soldiers' accounts of combat actions throughout the 1940 campaign in France and Belgium. It is not restricted to the actions around Dunkirk, instead covering the initial landing of the BEF in France, the phoney war winter, the initial movements to the Escaut line, and the initial encounters with the Germans along the Escaut. The book also highlights the actions of scratch units protecting the western flank of the BEF as it retreated to the coast at Dunkirk. The evacuation itself is covered in the same anecdotal style but is not a focus of the book. Over 20 maps are also provided. The book is written almost entirely from the British perspective - once again, the activity of the French and Belgian armed forces don't get much coverage. This is not really a comprehensive military history, as the focus is on individuals and their part in the dramatic events of May and June 1940. Discussions of the larger strategic and operational picture are provided in places, but not comprehensively, and often seemed to break the flow of the book. For example, several pages are devoted to the British cabinet discussion of a French proposal to use Mussolini in a mediation role, followed by more individual platoon level combat action. Two chapters are devoted to British actions during the remainder campaign after Dunkirk, including the trapping and surrender of the 51st Highland Division at St. Valery and the sinking of the Lancastria. The book suffers from a lack of focus on strategic vs individual discussion here as earlier. Still, overall, this is an entertaining read. Serious readers of military history might want to read this for the coverage given to the BEF prior to and after Dunkirk, which even if limited, far exceeds the coverage given in most histories.

Dunkirk- A lot I didn't know

I saw a review of this in the NYRB & thought it might prove a good read. I was correct in my assumption. It is very well-written & provides a wealth of information I was previously unaware of.