2008-07-03 Solid history and detailed guide.

This is another volume in an excellent series designed to provide a clear picture of the historical events of WW2, and locate them firmly in their geographical locations.

Dunkirk is slightly unusual by not being a battle as such in the formal sense. However, Wilson is especially strong on detailing the savage fighting by the British rearguard at towns like Cassel. This was an area of the campaign that I knew little about. Similarly detailed, but far more horrific, are the accounts of prisoner massacres like Wormhout, where the new memorials have an added poignancy.

The emabrkations and the desperate scenes on the beaches are well documented a treated efficiently here, and the naval and air efforts are briskly served. If you're tracing a relative across France in the 1940 campaign, pack Alastair Horne, Sebag-Montefiore and this.