The BEF in France, 1939–1940

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Author :
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1473838444
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Book Synopsis The BEF in France, 1939–1940 by : John Grehan

Download or read book The BEF in France, 1939–1940 written by John Grehan and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-07-09 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the British force in Europe from 19391940 during the Second World War. Commanded by General Lord Gort, the BEF constituted one-tenth of the defending Allied force.The British Expeditionary Force was started in 1938 in readiness for a perceived threat of war after Germany annexed Austria in March 1938 and the claims on the Sudetenland, which led to the invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. After the French and British had promised to defend Poland, the German invasion of that country began and war was declared on 3 September 1939.The BEF was sent to France in September 1939 and deployed mainly along the BelgianFrench border during the so-called Phoney War leading up to May 1940. The BEF did not commence hostilities until the invasion of France on 10 May 1940. After the commencement of battle, they were driven back through Belgium and north-western France, forcing their eventual evacuation from several ports along the French northern coastline in Operations Dynamo, Ariel and Cycle. The most notable evacuation was from the Dunkirk region and from this the phrase Dunkirk Spirit was coined.

British Battles of the Crimean Wars 1854-1856

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Author :
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1781593302
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (815 download)

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Book Synopsis British Battles of the Crimean Wars 1854-1856 by : John Grehan

Download or read book British Battles of the Crimean Wars 1854-1856 written by John Grehan and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-01-22 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Crimean War was the most destructive armed conflict of the Victorian era. It is remembered for the unreasoning courage of the Charge of the Light Brigade, for the precise volleys of the Thin Red Line and the impossible assaults upon Sevastopol's Redan. It also demonstrated the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the British military system based on privilege and purchase.??Poor organisation at staff level and weak leadership from the Commander-in-Chief with a lack of appreciation of the conditions the troops would experience in the Crimea resulted in the needless death of thousands of soldiers. The Royal Navy, by comparison, was highly effective and successfully undertook its operations in the Baltic, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.??The relative performance of the two branches of Britain's armed forces is reflected in the despatches sent back to the UK by the?respective commanders. The comparative wealth of detail provided by Admirals Napier, Dundas and Lyons contrast sharply with the limited, though frequent, communications from Generals Raglan, Codrington and Simpson.??The despatches of all these commanding officers are presented in this compilation just as they were when first published in the 1850s. They tell of the great battles of the Alma, Balaklava and Inkerman, of the continuing struggle against Sevastopol and the naval operations which cut the Russian communications and ensured an eventual, if costly, victory. They can be read, just as they were when revealed to the general public more than 150 years ago.

The British Army in France After Dunkirk

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Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 178346920X
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (834 download)

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Book Synopsis The British Army in France After Dunkirk by : Patrick Takle

Download or read book The British Army in France After Dunkirk written by Patrick Takle and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2009-07-19 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although over 330,000 British and French soldiers were evacuated from the Dunkirk beaches between 26 May and 4 June, many thousands remained in France, most under French command. Churchill, now the Prime Minister, and desperate to keep the French in the War, decided to form a Second BEF made up of 51 Highland, 1st Armoured and the Beauman Divisions, reinforced from the UK by a second Corps. He also ordered vital and scarce RAF fighter squadrons to France. Had these been lost the Battle of Britain might have had a very different result. General Alan Brooke was to command the second Corps comprising the only viable formations in the UK. Realizing the hopelessness of his mission he delayed for as long as possible. Meanwhile the situation in France went from bad to worse and five units were squandered. At St Valery 800 of the 51st Highland Division surrendered after heavy fighting and being outflanked by Rommel. This is the fascinating story of a disaster that could have been so much worse had Churchill had his way.

The French Defeat of 1940

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Author :
Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 0857457179
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (574 download)

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Book Synopsis The French Defeat of 1940 by : Joel Blatt

Download or read book The French Defeat of 1940 written by Joel Blatt and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 1997-08-01 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why France, the major European continental victor in 1918, suffered total defeat in six weeks at the hands of the vanquished power of 1918 only two decades later remains moot. Why the stunning reversal of fortunes? In this volume thirteen prominent scholars reexamine the French debacle of 1940 in interwar perspectives, utilizing fresh analysis, original approaches, and new sources. Although the tenor of the volume is critical, the contributors also suggest that French preparations for war knew successes as well as failures, that French defeat was not inevitable, and that the Battle of France might have turned out differently if different choices had been made and other paths been followed.

When Britain Saved the West

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Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 030018400X
Total Pages : 373 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis When Britain Saved the West by : Robin Prior

Download or read book When Britain Saved the West written by Robin Prior and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-26 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the comfortable distance of seven decades, it is quite easy to view the victory of the Allies over Hitler’s Germany as inevitable. But in 1940 Great Britain’s defeat loomed perilously close, and no other nation stepped up to confront the Nazi threat. In this cogently argued book, Robin Prior delves into the documents of the time—war diaries, combat reports, Home Security’s daily files, and much more—to uncover how Britain endured a year of menacing crises. The book reassesses key events of 1940—crises that were recognized as such at the time and others not fully appreciated. Prior examines Neville Chamberlain’s government, Churchill’s opponents, the collapse of France, the Battle of Britain, and the Blitz. He looks critically at the position of the United States before Pearl Harbor, and at Roosevelt’s response to the crisis. Prior concludes that the nation was saved through a combination of political leadership, British Expeditionary Force determination and skill, Royal Air Force and Navy efforts to return soldiers to the homeland, and the determination of the people to fight on “in spite of all terror.” As eloquent as it is controversial, this book exposes the full import of events in 1940, when Britain fought alone and Western civilization hung in the balance.

To Lose a Battle

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0141937726
Total Pages : 736 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (419 download)

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Book Synopsis To Lose a Battle by : Alistair Horne

Download or read book To Lose a Battle written by Alistair Horne and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2007-06-28 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1940, the German army fought and won an extraordinary battle with France in six weeks of lightning warfare. With the subtlety and compulsion of a novel, Horne’s narrative shifts from minor battlefield incidents to high military and political decisions, stepping far beyond the confines of military history to form a major contribution to our understanding of the crises of the Franco-German rivalry. To Lose a Battle is the third part of the trilogy beginning with The Fall of Paris and continuing with The Price of Glory (already available in Penguin).

The BEF in France

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (89 download)

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Book Synopsis The BEF in France by :

Download or read book The BEF in France written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The War in France and Flanders

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781845740566
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (45 download)

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Book Synopsis The War in France and Flanders by : Lionel Frederic Ellis

Download or read book The War in France and Flanders written by Lionel Frederic Ellis and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering the 1939-40 Phoney War in a single chapter, the focus of Major L.F. Ellis s official history of the campaign in France and Flanders falls on the role of the British Expeditionary Force in attempting to defend Belgium and France from the fury of the German Blitzkrieg in May-June 1940. He describes the BEF s advance into Belgium in response to the German attack in accordance with the pre-arranged Anglo-French Dyle Plan , and its rapid retreat as the Germans broke through on the River Meuse. Despite an attempted counter-attack around Arras, Ellis shows how the BEF and their French allies were forced back on the Channel Ports by the swift advance of the German armoured columns. The history culminates in the confusion caused by Belgium s sudden surrender, the failed British stand on the Somme, and the momentous decision to evacuate the BEF from Dunkirk. Illustrated by 7 general maps, 14 situation maps and 17 sketch maps, the book has eleven photographs, and additional appendices detailing the German planning of their spectacularly successful campaign, and listing the British and German forces engaged.

The Battle of Flanders, 1940

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 72 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Battle of Flanders, 1940 by : Ian Hay

Download or read book The Battle of Flanders, 1940 written by Ian Hay and published by . This book was released on 1941 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Britain and France in Two World Wars

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Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 144116619X
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (411 download)

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Book Synopsis Britain and France in Two World Wars by : Robert Tombs

Download or read book Britain and France in Two World Wars written by Robert Tombs and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: France and Britain, indispensable allies in two world wars, remember and forget their shared history in contrasting ways. The book examines key episodes in the relationship between the two countries, including the outbreak of war in 1914, the battles of the Somme and Verdun, the Fall of France in 1940, Dunkirk, and British involvement in the French Resistance and the 1944 Liberation. The contributors discuss how the two countries tend to forget what they owe to each other, and have a distorted view of history which still colours and prejudices their relationship today, despite government efforts to build a close political and military partnership.

Le Cateau

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Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1783460709
Total Pages : 440 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (834 download)

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Book Synopsis Le Cateau by : Nigel Cave

Download or read book Le Cateau written by Nigel Cave and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2008-03-26 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Le Cateau (26–27 August 1914) was the second major action fought by the BEF in the Great War. His men exhausted after fighting at Mons and by the subsequent speedy retreat, Lieutenant-General Horace Smith-Dorrien (commanding II Corps) decided that he had to make a stand in the vicinity of Le Cateau.There his men took on elements of four German corps in an action that succeeded in giving the BEF a respite, but at considerable cost. Amongst other elements of controversy in the conduct of the battle was the handling of the Royal Artillery.The battle also undermined the already fraught relationship between Smith-Dorrien and the BEF's commander, John French. The battlefield today remains largely as it was, open countryside, and it is an ideal location to view one of the most significant British battlefields of the early days of the war.In this action no less than five Victoria Crosses were won, three of them in one howitzer battery and two by men of the 2nd King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.

The Marne 15 July - 6 August 1918

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 80 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The Marne 15 July - 6 August 1918 by : Stephen C. McGeorge and Mason W. Watson

Download or read book The Marne 15 July - 6 August 1918 written by Stephen C. McGeorge and Mason W. Watson and published by . This book was released on with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Dunkirk

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Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0141906162
Total Pages : 720 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (419 download)

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Book Synopsis Dunkirk by : Hugh Sebag-Montefiore

Download or read book Dunkirk written by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2007-05-31 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * * * Special 75th Anniversary Edition * * * Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man tells the story of the rescue in May 1940 of British soldiers fleeing capture and defeat by the Nazis at Dunkirk. Dunkirk was not just about what happened at sea and on the beaches. The evacuation would never have succeeded had it not been for the tenacity of the British soldiers who stayed behind to ensure they got away. Men like Sergeant Major Gus Jennings who died smothering a German stick bomb in the church at Esquelbecq in an effort to save his comrades, and Captain Marcus Ervine-Andrews VC who single-handedly held back a German attack on the Dunkirk perimeter thereby allowing the British line to form up behind him. Told to stand and fight to the last man, these brave few battalions fought in whatever manner they could to buy precious time for the evacuation. Outnumbered and outgunned, they launched spectacular and heroic attacks time and again, despite ferocious fighting and the knowledge that for many only capture or death would end their struggle. 'A searing story . . . both meticulous military history and a deeply moving testimony to the extraordinary personal bravery of individual soldiers' Tim Gardam, The Times 'Sebag-Montefiore tells [the story] with gusto, a remarkable attention to detail and an inexhaustible appetite for tracking down the evidence' Richard Ovary, Telegraph Hugh Sebag-Montefiore was a barrister before becoming a journalist and then an author. He wrote the best-selling Enigma: The Battle for the Code. One of his ancestors was evacuated from Dunkirk.

United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 668 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919 by :

Download or read book United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919 written by and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 668 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A seventeen-volume compilation of selected AEF records gathered by Army historians during the interwar years. This collection in no way represents an exhaustive record of the Army's months in France, but it is certainly worthy of serious consideration and thoughtful review by students of military history and strategegy and will serve as a useful jumping off point for any earnest scholarship on the war. --from Foreword by William A Stofft.

The French Army and the First World War

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 110701235X
Total Pages : 487 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis The French Army and the First World War by : Elizabeth Greenhalgh

Download or read book The French Army and the First World War written by Elizabeth Greenhalgh and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new account of the role and performance of the French army in the First World War.

Strange Victory

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Publisher : Hill and Wang
ISBN 13 : 1466894288
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

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Book Synopsis Strange Victory by : Ernest R. May

Download or read book Strange Victory written by Ernest R. May and published by Hill and Wang. This book was released on 2015-07-28 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dramatic narrative-and reinterpretation-of Germany's six-week campaign that swept the Wehrmacht to Paris in spring 1940. Before the Nazis killed him for his work in the French Resistance, the great historian Marc Bloch wrote a famous short book, Strange Defeat, about the treatment of his nation at the hands of an enemy the French had believed they could easily dispose of. In Strange Victory, the distinguished American historian Ernest R. May asks the opposite question: How was it that Hitler and his generals managed this swift conquest, considering that France and its allies were superior in every measurable dimension and considering the Germans' own skepticism about their chances? Strange Victory is a riveting narrative of those six crucial weeks in the spring of 1940, weaving together the decisions made by the high commands with the welter of confused responses from exhausted and ill-informed, or ill-advised, officers in the field. Why did Hitler want to turn against France at just this moment, and why were his poor judgment and inadequate intelligence about the Allies nonetheless correct? Why didn't France take the offensive when it might have led to victory? What explains France's failure to detect and respond to Germany's attack plan? It is May's contention that in the future, nations might suffer strange defeats of their own if they do not learn from their predecessors' mistakes in judgment.

French Soldiers' Morale in the Phoney War, 1939-1940

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131531147X
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (153 download)

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Book Synopsis French Soldiers' Morale in the Phoney War, 1939-1940 by : Maude Williams

Download or read book French Soldiers' Morale in the Phoney War, 1939-1940 written by Maude Williams and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-31 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The collapse of the French army in 1940 is a well-researched topic in Second World War Studies but a surprising gap in the historiography emerges when it comes to the study of the French military prior to the German offensive of May 1940. Using various public and private sources in different languages, this book aims to address this gap by studying morale on the frontline and its management by the French Government, the Grand Quartier Général, at the scale of the regiment and on a personal level. This research also investigates German and British propaganda in French and aimed at the French sector of the frontline in order to offer the first comprehensive comparative study of French army morale in any language.