Brian Bond - The Battle for France & Flanders: Sixty Years On

SIXTY YEARS ON

First published in Great Britain 2001 by
LEO COOPER
an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright 2001 by Brian Bond and Michael D. Taylor
and individual contributors

ISBN 0 85052 811 9

A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library

Typeset in 11/13 Sabon by
Phoenix Typesetting, Ilkley, West Yorkshire

Printed and Bound in England by
CPI UK Ltd

In July 2000 the British Commission for Military History (BCMH) devoted its weekend conference at Bedford to a reappraisal of the Battle of France and Flanders sixty years after the dramatic events which left Germany in command of Western Europe, France defeated and in political turmoil and Britain with its Army in disarray and in expectation of imminent German invasion.

Most of the papers collected here in a revised form were delivered and discussed at the conference, and all but two of the contributors are BCMH members. We have consequently drawn on the special interests and expertise of our members and have not attempted either a complete narrative history or systematic coverage of all the controversies or of all national viewpoints: there is, for example, no essay focusing on the Belgian role in the operations or on the confused second phase of the German offensive in June which culminated in a second British evacuation from Cherbourg and other western ports. We have, however, aimed to produce a volume which has coherence and is much more than a miscellany. We re-examine the key phases of the campaign, including the astonishing German breakthrough at Sedan; the failure of the Anglo-French forces to organize and execute a significant counter-offensive; the brilliant manoeuvre which saved the Field Force when the Belgians suddenly accepted a ceasefire; the inspired improvisation of a defensible bridgehead at Dunkirk; and the air and naval aspects of the campaign. There is also an original and provocative account of British reporting of operations, and a brilliant analysis of French attitudes during the final days of the evacuation, based on a wide range of archival sources and interviews, which has been edited from a much longer essay. Finally, these profoundly influential operations have been placed in their historical context by surveys of the post mortems and controversies generated amongst participants and scholars in France, Germany and Britain and, in the British case, with an additional essay on the impact of the campaign on military doctrine which has hitherto been virtually unexplored.

Even after sixty years, the repercussions of the sixty days that shook the West are far from over and the vast historiography steadily increases. We offer no apology for adding another stone to the edifice and hope that these essays will stimulate further research and writing, both on the topics covered and on others which we have had to leave aside.

Brian Bond, President BCMH.