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The Battle of France, 1940: 10 May-22 June
On May 10, 1940, Hitler launched his war in the West, and France reeled under the hammer of blitzkrieg. Within four days, German panzer formations emerged from the apparently passable Ardennes and established bridgeheads across the Meuse. Soon after, they smashed a 50-mile breach in the Allied line. By June 22nd, it was France had fallen. The tragic story of this unprecedented defeat--the only occasion in World War II when a great power lost in a single campaign--makes gripping and unforgettable reading.
- GenresWorld War II
275 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Philip Warner
79 books8 followersPhilip Warner (1914 - 2000) was an outstanding military historian, and for the last 13 years The Daily Telegraph's peerless Army obituarist. Indeed, he played a vital role in setting the standard for the modern Telegraph obituary. He had a relish for the piquant detail and an understanding that a good story should never be overdressed.
He was a master of the laconic, lapidary phrase. Warner's direct, uncluttered and transparent prose, was a reflection of the man. Above all, he felt deep admiration for the lives he celebrated. His own character, always strong, had been tempered by his terrible experiences at the hands of the Japanese during the Second World War.
One of the Allied soldiers rounded up and imprisoned after the fall of Singapore on February 15 1942, he spent some time in the infamous Changi jail, and worked on the Railway of Death. For every sleeper laid on the 1,000 miles of track through Malaya, Burma and Thailand, a prisoner of war was lost. Philip Warner was saved by his tough-mindedness and by his belief in the virtues of loyalty. To help his fellow prisoners forget their troubles, he organised plays, talks and debates.
Afterwards, he never liked to mention his ordeal. He felt he owed his survival to his physical condition (he performed 30 minutes of exercises every day of his life), his scrupulous hygiene (hard to stick to when one is starving), and to his strong sense of belonging to his family back in Britain. At night he would look at the moon, and think of it passing over Warwickshire.
In 1944 Warner and other able-bodied PoWs were stowed under deck in a troopship (he enjoyed the irony of being almost torpedoed by the Americans), and taken to Japan, where he worked in the copper mines, in dark, hot and dangerous conditions.
As the Americans closed in, he and his fellow PoWs had the unnerving experience of being herded into caves, while the Japanese guards set up machine-guns outside. The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki probably saved the prisoners from massacre.
At the beginning of the war Warner had weighed 14 stone; in 1945 he was 4.5 stone. In 1,100 days of captivity, he only received half a Red Cross parcel. He was never among those inclined to bestow easy forgiveness upon the Japanese. The maltreatment which he had endured increased his natural reticence. Although he set great store by loyalty, he gave his trust warily.
Once certain that he could rely on someone, he would do anything for them; should anyone abuse his trust, he was slow to forgive. "There are six billion people in the world," he was wont to say, "and when this person gets to the top of the pile again, I will give him another chance." After the war Warner taught at Sandhurst and became a prolific writer, turning out more than 50 books.
He would produce two volumes a year, not to mention up to 200 obituaries and many book reviews - all with an absolute minimum of fuss. He worked on the principle that, once he had covered a page with writing, he could always cross it out. He was a firm believer in the virtues of perseverance - "Stick at the wicket and the runs will come" - and in early starts: "One hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon, is worth three in the evening."
In the 1970s he was seriously ill, but under his colossal labour he throve as never before. Without it, he used to say, he would have had to play golf every day; and, useful player though he was, that was not his idea of a tolerable life.
Though the last man to preach, Philip Warner set a supreme example of how to tackle old age. While eager to enjoy himself, and, still more, to see that his friends enjoyed themselves, he instinctively understood that pleasure is best courted against a background of disciplined endeavour.
Philip Arthur William Warner was born at Nuneaton on May 19 1914, the last in
He was a master of the laconic, lapidary phrase. Warner's direct, uncluttered and transparent prose, was a reflection of the man. Above all, he felt deep admiration for the lives he celebrated. His own character, always strong, had been tempered by his terrible experiences at the hands of the Japanese during the Second World War.
One of the Allied soldiers rounded up and imprisoned after the fall of Singapore on February 15 1942, he spent some time in the infamous Changi jail, and worked on the Railway of Death. For every sleeper laid on the 1,000 miles of track through Malaya, Burma and Thailand, a prisoner of war was lost. Philip Warner was saved by his tough-mindedness and by his belief in the virtues of loyalty. To help his fellow prisoners forget their troubles, he organised plays, talks and debates.
Afterwards, he never liked to mention his ordeal. He felt he owed his survival to his physical condition (he performed 30 minutes of exercises every day of his life), his scrupulous hygiene (hard to stick to when one is starving), and to his strong sense of belonging to his family back in Britain. At night he would look at the moon, and think of it passing over Warwickshire.
In 1944 Warner and other able-bodied PoWs were stowed under deck in a troopship (he enjoyed the irony of being almost torpedoed by the Americans), and taken to Japan, where he worked in the copper mines, in dark, hot and dangerous conditions.
As the Americans closed in, he and his fellow PoWs had the unnerving experience of being herded into caves, while the Japanese guards set up machine-guns outside. The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki probably saved the prisoners from massacre.
At the beginning of the war Warner had weighed 14 stone; in 1945 he was 4.5 stone. In 1,100 days of captivity, he only received half a Red Cross parcel. He was never among those inclined to bestow easy forgiveness upon the Japanese. The maltreatment which he had endured increased his natural reticence. Although he set great store by loyalty, he gave his trust warily.
Once certain that he could rely on someone, he would do anything for them; should anyone abuse his trust, he was slow to forgive. "There are six billion people in the world," he was wont to say, "and when this person gets to the top of the pile again, I will give him another chance." After the war Warner taught at Sandhurst and became a prolific writer, turning out more than 50 books.
He would produce two volumes a year, not to mention up to 200 obituaries and many book reviews - all with an absolute minimum of fuss. He worked on the principle that, once he had covered a page with writing, he could always cross it out. He was a firm believer in the virtues of perseverance - "Stick at the wicket and the runs will come" - and in early starts: "One hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon, is worth three in the evening."
In the 1970s he was seriously ill, but under his colossal labour he throve as never before. Without it, he used to say, he would have had to play golf every day; and, useful player though he was, that was not his idea of a tolerable life.
Though the last man to preach, Philip Warner set a supreme example of how to tackle old age. While eager to enjoy himself, and, still more, to see that his friends enjoyed themselves, he instinctively understood that pleasure is best courted against a background of disciplined endeavour.
Philip Arthur William Warner was born at Nuneaton on May 19 1914, the last in
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 9, 2013
Horrible, horrible book.
Should be called "B.E.F. in France" because that is the only thing this book dwells on. The barest details are given of French forces and their engagements with the Germans. I was disappointed that as soon as the book covered the Dunkirk evacuation (which consumed way more chapters than necessary) and all the speculation from said incident, the book rushes to an end with the barest details of the rest of Germany's sweep through France. There also lacked ANY description of the peace signed between the two powers or the negotiations involved. Everything in this book is lacking; you'll find the Wikipedia page more detailed and interesting than anything found in this book.
Should be called "B.E.F. in France" because that is the only thing this book dwells on. The barest details are given of French forces and their engagements with the Germans. I was disappointed that as soon as the book covered the Dunkirk evacuation (which consumed way more chapters than necessary) and all the speculation from said incident, the book rushes to an end with the barest details of the rest of Germany's sweep through France. There also lacked ANY description of the peace signed between the two powers or the negotiations involved. Everything in this book is lacking; you'll find the Wikipedia page more detailed and interesting than anything found in this book.
July 9, 2020
This was one of the most clearly written accounts of the fall of France that I have read. The author avoided complex military arguments and provided a reasonably easy explanation for the rather unbelievable collapse of the French military effort in the face of the Nazi German attack in May-June 1940. Even Winston Churchill, sitting in London, could not believe how quickly the allied effort including the BEF was failing in the face of the blitzkrieg offensive. The most successful effort of the Allied forces was the evacuation of the BEF and many French soldiers at Dunkirk. The author suggests that the ultimate loser as a result of this rapid and total victory may have been Hitler and the Germans as it persuaded the leadership that victory was inevitable and led them into the colossal mistake of the Russian campaign. What the author fails to do,in focusing on the Germans as victims, is to examine how the French people became victims for the next four years.
November 21, 2023
This is the most Anglocentric book ever. A survey of the appendix says it all. 14 pages are devoted to a detailed listing of the British order of battle down to the battalion. The Germans get less than a page (including false statements such as "Army Group B were all infantry corps"), the French get less than half a page, and the Belgians and Dutch share a single sentence.
February 21, 2021
Very interesting
Shows how things in 1940 could have turned out very differently.
It concludes with some suggestions as to what may have happened if 1940 in France had turned out like 1914.
Shows how things in 1940 could have turned out very differently.
It concludes with some suggestions as to what may have happened if 1940 in France had turned out like 1914.
June 29, 2022
Několik nových informacích o pádu Francie jsem se dozvěděl, nicméně čekal jsem trošku kvalitněji zpracovanou knihu. A více mapových podkladů.
September 29, 2016
Bad kindle file
I ordered this kindle book after reading WL Shirer's Collapse of the Third Republic and Walter Lord's Dunkirk. What I wanted was a history of the fall of France from the French perspective. What I got was a decidedly British retelling of the fall of France. Don't get me wrong, this is a good read, but a lot of it is redundant to what I have already read.
In addition, kindle sent me a corrupted file - the txt was all disjointed. It was left justified, but none of the lines of txt wrapped around on the right. The result was a very difficult read.
I ordered this kindle book after reading WL Shirer's Collapse of the Third Republic and Walter Lord's Dunkirk. What I wanted was a history of the fall of France from the French perspective. What I got was a decidedly British retelling of the fall of France. Don't get me wrong, this is a good read, but a lot of it is redundant to what I have already read.
In addition, kindle sent me a corrupted file - the txt was all disjointed. It was left justified, but none of the lines of txt wrapped around on the right. The result was a very difficult read.
January 24, 2015
A Batalha de França como tópico promete imenso - a história do desmoranamento das defesas francesas perante a investida da máquina de guerra de Hitler. Warner faz um bom resumo das várias análises feitas a esta batalha, o problema é a excessiva repetição de alguns pormenores, sem a qual o livro podia ter metade do seu tamanho.
February 19, 2016
A decent account of the battles that led to France's defeat in 1940.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews