Ebook: The Battle for France, 1940

Philip Warner has produced here a gripping account of the turbulent months of May and June 1940 and a story of courage, confusion and drama. With the perspective of history it interweaves a mass of new material, much of it revelatory, with the dramatic stories of those in the thick of action—who, regardless of rank or nationality, were taken by surprise at the speed and turn of events. Warner clarifies and personalises this crucial stage of the war, drawing on the personal accounts of ordinary people who knew only too well what was happening around them, and of those in authority—who often did not. We learn of the bizarre events that characterised this period: how the Allies captured (and ignored) the detailed plans for the invasion of Belgium and Holland—while the Germans decisively changed their strategy; how the German command halted Guderian's tanks twice because they could not believe their success—unwittingly assisting in the evacuation of Dunkirk;...