At 2am on the morning of the 3rd of June 1940, General Harold Alexander searched along the quayside, holding onto his megaphone and called “Is anyone there? Is anyone there?” before turning his boat back towards England. Tradition tells us that the dramatic events of the evacuation of Dunkirk, in which 300,000 BEF servicemen escaped the Nazis, was a victory gained from the jaws of defeat. For the first time, rather than telling the tale of the 300,000 who escaped, Sean Longden reveals the story of the 40,000 men sacrificed in the rearguard battles. On the beaches and sand dunes, besides the roads and amidst the ruins lay the corpses of hundreds who had not reached the boats. Elsewhere, hospitals full of the sick and wounded who had been left behind to receive treatment from the enemy’s doctors. And further afield – still fighting hard alongside their French allies - was the entire 51st Highland Division, whose war had not finished as the last boats slipped away. Also scattered across the countryside were hundreds of lost and lonely soldiers. These ‘evaders’ had also missed the boats and were now desperately trying to make their own way home, either by walking across France or rowing across the channel. The majority, however, were now prisoners of war who were forced to walk on the death marches all the way to the camps in Germany and Poland, where they were forgotten until 1945. Praise for Sean Longden 'Forget The Great Escape. Forget The Colditz Story. This is the real thing.' Les Allan, founder of the ‘National Ex-Prisoner of War Association.’ ‘A powerful indictment of the crimes perpetrated against men who had surrendered in good faith....Never again, after Mr Longden's excellent work, shall we see the plight of POWs as anything other than unremittingly monstrous.' Andrew Roberts, Daily Mail ‘Longden’s a master at building the big picture detail-by-detail, using veterans’ memories to good effect, creating an absorbing history of the period in question. He’s a historian to read, regardless of theme.' Sue Baker, Publishing News
Dunkirk: The Men They Left Behind
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"A moving and fascinating antidote to the Dunkirk legend."
-- Time Out.
"His book cannot fail to elicit sympathy for their suffering and admiration for their sacrifice." -- The Scotsman,
"Sean Longden is a rising name in military history, and is able to uncover the missing stories of the Second World War." -- Guardian Unlimited.
"few readers will be unmoved by Sean Longden's account" -- Dominic Sandbrook, Evening Standard
"gritty emotional and shocking ... It has changed my understanding of life for British POWs in the Second World War." -- The Soldier, July 2008.
-- Time Out.
"His book cannot fail to elicit sympathy for their suffering and admiration for their sacrifice." -- The Scotsman,
"Sean Longden is a rising name in military history, and is able to uncover the missing stories of the Second World War." -- Guardian Unlimited.
"few readers will be unmoved by Sean Longden's account" -- Dominic Sandbrook, Evening Standard
"gritty emotional and shocking ... It has changed my understanding of life for British POWs in the Second World War." -- The Soldier, July 2008.
Book Description
The true story of the 40,000 soldiers left behind – and forgotten – in June 1940. Based on extensive new research and interviews with veterans, Sean Longden resurrects a long forgotten story of the Second World War.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
81 of 84 people found the following review helpful
By P. Bradford
Format:Hardcover
My mum bought me this for my birthday. I read it in two long days! My Grandfather was captured at Calais (one of The Rifle Brigade). He wouldn't talk too much about it, only opening up a little towards the end of his life. He would talk for a while, then change the subject. He was very bitter about not being rescued like those at Dunkirk. I used to say to him, 'Had you been rescued, you might not have been here today, as you could have died elsewhere'. He felt let down by the government and therefore had no desire to try and escape. Until I read this book, I had little understanding of what he and others went through. I was not aware of the continued fighting and other rescues after Dunkirk, despite having read a lot about the War. Perhaps it was a shame it wasn't written earlier. I might have asked my Grandfather more before it was too late.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By Jerrybudge
Format:Hardcover
A grim and often horrific account of the men of the British Expeditionary Force that were left behind in France after the Dunkirk evacuation. The author describes the experiences of these men using a wide array of sources, including eye-witness accounts that pull no punches.
A very readable and fascinating book, although perhaps the editing could have been a little tighter, as the author sometimes repeats himself, and there are a fair number of errors in the text, though these are purely cosmetic.
Highly recommended.
A very readable and fascinating book, although perhaps the editing could have been a little tighter, as the author sometimes repeats himself, and there are a fair number of errors in the text, though these are purely cosmetic.
Highly recommended.
56 of 59 people found the following review helpful
By Philadelphus
Format:Hardcover
This book aims to tell the normally forgotten story of those left behind. It's a story that should be told: there are many reasons that it generally hasn't been. One is the difficulty in finding people prepared to talk about it. I didn't know my own father and his cousin had been amongst those left behind to fight (which they did - ferociously, as is shown by the casualty figures on both sides) until an acquaintance mentioned it when I was a teenager. He didn't talk about it even once I did know. This was common.
This book is therefore unavoidably based on evidence from only a small proportion of those involved. That can't be helped, but it presents their experience as everyone's experience. To take an early example, it reads as though all prisoners were sent back through Trier. Many were - my father probably was - but there were also other routes, with people marched from Arras and the coast up through the Netherlands to towards the mouth of the Rhine to be transported by Rhine barge. Looking at the German records shows how many transit camps (Dulags) there were all along the Rhine and there were other routes to them between the extremes of the Rhine mouth and Trier.
There are further examples, and as other reviewers have said, there are also errors of simple fact and typesetting.
So in short: I'm glad the book was written; I recommend reading it; but don't take it as the universal story of all those left behind, and watch out for mistakes.
This book is therefore unavoidably based on evidence from only a small proportion of those involved. That can't be helped, but it presents their experience as everyone's experience. To take an early example, it reads as though all prisoners were sent back through Trier. Many were - my father probably was - but there were also other routes, with people marched from Arras and the coast up through the Netherlands to towards the mouth of the Rhine to be transported by Rhine barge. Looking at the German records shows how many transit camps (Dulags) there were all along the Rhine and there were other routes to them between the extremes of the Rhine mouth and Trier.
There are further examples, and as other reviewers have said, there are also errors of simple fact and typesetting.
So in short: I'm glad the book was written; I recommend reading it; but don't take it as the universal story of all those left behind, and watch out for mistakes.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
bOOK
They don't like it up um
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Published 12 days ago by Mark
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Truth Behind The Myth
I never realised what happened to the men left behind. I knew about the 51st Highland Division abut this book reveals what happened to the others abandoned in Europe in 1940. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Joseph Mcgrath
4.0 out of 5 stars
The boys who stayed behind .
What a good book I did not know how bad the men were treated by the Germans .when you read this book it makes you think what they would have done to the men of this country if we... Read more
Published 1 month ago by paul coleman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shed light on an untold story
This is a well written and researched history of the troops captured after the defeat at Dunkirk. I would recommend to anyone with an interest in military history.
Published 1 month ago by JNB
4.0 out of 5 stars
a real eye opener
I thought I knew a lot about WWII, but this is one part that is often overlooked by other history books, and certainly I learned a lot of new things having read it.
Published 2 months ago by tonewheel
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dunkirk
It is about time the stories of the rearguard were told. The authors passion and anger about the subject is obvious, almost to the point its one sided. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Smally
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good read
Easy to down load the book it,s self was a good honest account of the real heroes of the evacuation of dunkirk
Published 3 months ago by Ian croft
3.0 out of 5 stars
Caution for the history buffs.
Having skipped down through the other reviews, I want to sound a note of warning to my fellow military history buffs - there is a lot of unsubstantiated revisionism at the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. D. Hamilton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent account of the other side of the Dunkirk story
This book goes a long way to filling out what has almost become the myth of the evacuation of Dunkirk. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Simon Binning
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant no other word
I found the story of the forgotten extremely moving.
This is the unwritten history behind the "Spin" of the "victory of Dunkirk. Read more
This is the unwritten history behind the "Spin" of the "victory of Dunkirk. Read more
Published 12 months ago by MR Paul STRONG
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