- objectieve analyse van de roemruchte ontsnapping van het Britse Expeditie leger in mei 1940 uit omsingeling bij Duinkerken o.a. met behulp van honderden kleine schepen
- For forty years, the battle of Dunkirk has been celebrated as one of the most extraordinary triumphs in British history, but it this astonishing book, Nicholas Harman shows that it was in fact a major defeat, embellished and made glorious by the British propaganda machine.
- Mr. Harman interviewed survivors of the evacuation and examined previously unexplored Cabinet papers, war diaries and other documents in compiling this vivid and fascinating account, the first to place the military and naval events on the Flanders coast in the context of the strategic and political decisions that shaped them. Dunkirk is a sweeping and powerful narrative about an event of extraordinary proportions and immense importance in the history of World War II
recensie:
- Far from being a negative account of the evacuation at Dunkirk of B.E.F forces, it used facts and figures to detail the heroism of the British, French, and Belgian military involved.
Hampered by inability to communicate efficiently with their French counterparts, it is an amazing tale of how the ultimate tragedy was snatched from history to reflect dogged determination, skillful seamanship, ability to change procedure at a moments notice.
- The author also details weakness on Germany's behalf to indicate that they were not superhuman: they exhausted themselves, made errors in tactics, misconstrued intercepted messages etc. He outlines several points of Blitzkrieg that I had not been aware of previously as well as the contrast of it with traditional military doctrine of the day.
- I would consider this an objective report of what happened during this time and the reasoning for doctoring/censoring what was happening as perceived by the Britons themselves. A good read!