- Hardcover: 666 pages
- Publisher: Harvard University Press (6 Sep 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0674024397
- ISBN-13: 978-0674024397
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 4.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
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- #51 in Books > History > Military History > World War II > Dunkirk
Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, a British journalist and, together with his brother Simon, one-half of a family duo of excellent historians, has written a fascinating and finely detailed account of these momentous weeks. "Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man" draws heavily on archival sources and interviews with the few remaining survivors and their families. Without ever losing sight of how the struggle would affect the fates of England and France, "Dunkirk" recounts many examples of personal heroism that put a human face on the fighting. Sebag-Montefiore conveys the desperate, cornered-animal atmosphere that descended over the troops and never shirks from war's gruesome realities...Discussions of the events at Dunkirk have usually focused on the action on the beaches and the little ships that ferried men out to the larger vessels offshore. Sebag-Montefiore shifts the angle, choosing to highlight the heroics of the men ordered to hold the line against the Germans and keep the pocket around Dunkirk from collapsing.--Douglas Smith "Seattle Times "
Richard Overy, Telegraph
‘Sebag-Montefiore tells [the story] with gusto, a remarkable attention to detail and an inexhaustible appetite for tracking down the evidence’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I inherited an interest in WW2 from my history teacher father and have read many factual accounts from both the Allied and German perspective over the years. This book stands up well against the more recognised military historians like Holmes, Keegan or Beevor.
After the introducions and background are completed this volume concentrates quite rightly on the tales of each beleagured BEF battalion as they fought a desperate rearguard action back to the French and Belgian coast. Tales of individual heroism and leadership are intermingled with corroborative texts from both British and German archives and extracts that give the bigger picture as events unfolded.
The Dunkirk evacuation ended a huge defeat for the British Army and this book does not seek to hide or diminish that fact. However what it does do is demonstrate the resolute attitude of the Officers and Soldiers on the ground that took huge casualties and made great personal sacrifiuces in order to help ensure that as many men as possible could be extracted to fight another day.
After the introducions and background are completed this volume concentrates quite rightly on the tales of each beleagured BEF battalion as they fought a desperate rearguard action back to the French and Belgian coast. Tales of individual heroism and leadership are intermingled with corroborative texts from both British and German archives and extracts that give the bigger picture as events unfolded.
The Dunkirk evacuation ended a huge defeat for the British Army and this book does not seek to hide or diminish that fact. However what it does do is demonstrate the resolute attitude of the Officers and Soldiers on the ground that took huge casualties and made great personal sacrifiuces in order to help ensure that as many men as possible could be extracted to fight another day.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Popular history recalls the Dunkirk story with a chin-up, shiny spirit of resilience and crafty British guile - the first `Great Escape'. `Dunkirk spirit' has now become a tabloid byword for cheery, bulldog tenacity in the face of adversity.
But Sebag-Montefiore's incisive history pulls no punches and wipes the grin off the face of popular myth. He shows how one of Britain's landmark historical moments of the last century was actually tarnished by desperate, bloody fighting with no quarter spared.
Accepted history concentrates on what happened on the beaches. However the author says the battles that really counted occurred several miles inland on the Dunkirk town perimeter.
Here, British troops fought a dwindling rearguard last stand, giving their lives so other troops could live. For each soldier's life lost, precious minutes were gained to aid the evacuation and ensure the British Army could live to fight another day.
And the battle didn't end with the last bedraggled Tommy boarding the last departing ship from Dunkirk. For a further fortnight, stranded British troops retreated in the face of dive-bombers and SS massacres, culminating with a final evacuation from St. Nazaire and the hushed-up sinking of the Lancastria, with the loss of 3,500 men.
In-depth research gathered from archives as far away as Russia and Czechoslovakia, together with detailed maps, fascinating photographs and stark first-hand accounts from the remaining handful of veterans, do the Dunkirk story justice.
This weighty tome is masterly and scholarly, yet its fast, clear pace makes this definitive work highly readable.
But Sebag-Montefiore's incisive history pulls no punches and wipes the grin off the face of popular myth. He shows how one of Britain's landmark historical moments of the last century was actually tarnished by desperate, bloody fighting with no quarter spared.
Accepted history concentrates on what happened on the beaches. However the author says the battles that really counted occurred several miles inland on the Dunkirk town perimeter.
Here, British troops fought a dwindling rearguard last stand, giving their lives so other troops could live. For each soldier's life lost, precious minutes were gained to aid the evacuation and ensure the British Army could live to fight another day.
And the battle didn't end with the last bedraggled Tommy boarding the last departing ship from Dunkirk. For a further fortnight, stranded British troops retreated in the face of dive-bombers and SS massacres, culminating with a final evacuation from St. Nazaire and the hushed-up sinking of the Lancastria, with the loss of 3,500 men.
In-depth research gathered from archives as far away as Russia and Czechoslovakia, together with detailed maps, fascinating photographs and stark first-hand accounts from the remaining handful of veterans, do the Dunkirk story justice.
This weighty tome is masterly and scholarly, yet its fast, clear pace makes this definitive work highly readable.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The `miracle' of Dunkirk, as Churchill styled our most famous military disaster, is one surrounded by myths. This book sets out to dispel some of them, but for readers unfamiliar with the story of the fall of France in 1940, it might not be the best place to start, as it does not convey the broad picture very clearly. An entertaining opening of British soldiers visiting French brothels, like children let loose in a sweet shop, is followed later by a detailed account of the `Mechelen incident', when German plans were captured in January 1940. But the implications are less well dealt with, and Colonel-General Gerd von Rundstedt, whose forces performed the decisive German attack through the Ardennes called 'sichelschnitt', or sickle-cut, does not make an appearance until chapter 11.
The use of first-hand accounts conveys the confusion and desperation of the fighting, and the narrative is sometimes intensely personal. There are French and German voices early on, but thereafter it relies on British ones as the book concentrates on the efforts of the soldiers holding the defensive ring while the `little boats' and the Royal Navy set about the work of evacuation. In this it succeeds in creating a vivid impression of what it was like for those desperate men. The book's best sections are those dealing with set pieces, such as the defence of the village of Cassel, the massacres of British prisoners by SS men at Le Paradis and Wormhout, but this is at the expense of the evacuation itself which is covered in much less detail. The book finishes describing the capture of two-thirds of 51st (Highland) Division at St Valery-en-Caux, and the tragic sinking of the Lancastria with over 3,500 lives lost, but it skates quickly over the further evacuations that brought 144,000 British servicemen back from France from points south of the River Somme.
The use of first-hand accounts conveys the confusion and desperation of the fighting, and the narrative is sometimes intensely personal. There are French and German voices early on, but thereafter it relies on British ones as the book concentrates on the efforts of the soldiers holding the defensive ring while the `little boats' and the Royal Navy set about the work of evacuation. In this it succeeds in creating a vivid impression of what it was like for those desperate men. The book's best sections are those dealing with set pieces, such as the defence of the village of Cassel, the massacres of British prisoners by SS men at Le Paradis and Wormhout, but this is at the expense of the evacuation itself which is covered in much less detail. The book finishes describing the capture of two-thirds of 51st (Highland) Division at St Valery-en-Caux, and the tragic sinking of the Lancastria with over 3,500 lives lost, but it skates quickly over the further evacuations that brought 144,000 British servicemen back from France from points south of the River Somme.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dunkirk in detail
The book was second hand but in very good condition. It arrived promptly, as promised, and is a very good read. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jack Taylor
Not so much Dunkirk as the Fall of France
Despite the title - designed to invoke the myth - this is not really about the Dunkirk evacuation at all, but instead how it all came to pass. Read more
Published 11 months ago by John Middleton
S Sebag Montefiore: DUNKIRK
I think one should distinguish between the professional finish and great literary flow of this book, and its value as history. Read more
Published 16 months ago by a flynn
My Dad was there
Fred told me of Dunkirk from as far back into the 1950's. This helps me understand the sheer terror of the events. If you have an interest in WWII it's a must read.
Published 18 months ago by Portlander
How many s's are there in disappointment?
I looked forward with much anticipation to reading this account of the Dunkirk evacuation but unfortunately like the RAF cover over Dunkirk beach, it failed to deliver. Read more
Published 21 months ago by La Panne
A Chapter Too Far
This left me cold. I bought it hoping for the definitive story of the Dunkirk evacuation and it certainly is what it says on the tin. Read more
Published 22 months ago by ChinaDoc
Too much detail for the lay reader
I'm not enthusiastic enough to recommend this highly. Dunkirk's about 550 pages, and I had never before understood the sequence of events (evacuations) surrounding Dunkirk, and... Read more
Published 22 months ago by King Brosby
Detail Overload
Undoutedly thoroughly researched but ultimately a dissapointing read. The text gets bogged down in minutiae at the expense of the bigger picture making it difficult to retain the... Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2008 by P. S. Cumberland
Very informative
I really enjoyed this book,i found it most enlightening as to the events running up to the evacuation from Dunkirk. Read more
Published on 22 April 2008 by C. Hollingshead
Informative view on why Dunkirk happened
This book provided an invaluable insight as to why Dunkirk happened and the sacrifices that were made by the rearguard troops, something that is not often high lighted these days... Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2007 by Paul
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