- Hardcover: 528 pages
- Publisher: W&N; 1 edition (30 July 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0297852183
- ISBN-13: 978-0297852186
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15 x 4.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 118,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-42
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Product Description
Review
"Colin Smith, a veteran war correspondent, has built an impressive reputation as a military historian.... a fascinating story." (MAX HASTINGS THE SUNDAY TIMES - 16.08.09 )
"grim revelations about the thousands of allies killed by troops loyal to Vichy." (Our Choice of the Best Recent books THE SUNDAY TIMES - 23.08.09 )
"his descriptions of these obscure battlefield encounters are thrilling and his narrative is spruce and peppery." (CHRISTOPHER SILVESTER THE DAILY TELEGRAPH - 29.08.09 )
"Colin Smith...military historian and reconteur..." "there is much of the flavou of Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy in Smith's delight in arcane detail and rumbustious anecdote." "a narrative of war that has much of Patrick O'Brian about it." "there are few who can, like Smith, bring to life these lesser-known battles and the unknown soldiers, sailors and airmen, most of them dead now, who faced death and won these wars for us then." (CARMEN CALLIL THE GUARDIAN 24.10.09 )
"battles in dramatic detail, using not only official records and personal diaries, but eyewitness accounts from participants" (CHARLES GLASS LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS - December 2009 )
"excellent account of a woefully understudied 'war within a war'...Astonishingly, this is the first book" (ANDREW ROBERTS LITERARY REVIEW - December 2009 )
"Colin Smith's light yet detailed touch superbly outlines a wasteful and depressing story... A quality read with many political and military twists and turns." (SOLDIER MAGAZINE - December 2009 )
"Hidden Gem! Not as widely reviewed as it should have been given its quirky take on the well ploughed field of World War Two studies." (THE OLDIE - December 2009 )
"Smith's considerable achievement is to unmask the reality and make us understand this painful period far better than ever before." (CATHOLIC HERALD - 12.10.09 )
"This well-documented and intriguing history unearths one of the least-known episodes of the Second World War... Smith's writing is dispassionate, his writing robust, his sources well-chosen and well-used and his talent for military history self-evident." (GOOD BOOK GUIDE - SEPT 09 )
"absorbing... a fascinating and compelling read." (WESTERN DAILY PRESS - 19.09.09 )
"a classic on the conflict with Hitlers Vichy allies... a superb book on an astonishing array of long-buried incidents." (OXFORD TIMES 03.10.09 )
"grim revelations about the thousands of allies killed by troops loyal to Vichy." (Our Choice of the Best Recent books THE SUNDAY TIMES - 23.08.09 )
"his descriptions of these obscure battlefield encounters are thrilling and his narrative is spruce and peppery." (CHRISTOPHER SILVESTER THE DAILY TELEGRAPH - 29.08.09 )
"Colin Smith...military historian and reconteur..." "there is much of the flavou of Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy in Smith's delight in arcane detail and rumbustious anecdote." "a narrative of war that has much of Patrick O'Brian about it." "there are few who can, like Smith, bring to life these lesser-known battles and the unknown soldiers, sailors and airmen, most of them dead now, who faced death and won these wars for us then." (CARMEN CALLIL THE GUARDIAN 24.10.09 )
"battles in dramatic detail, using not only official records and personal diaries, but eyewitness accounts from participants" (CHARLES GLASS LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS - December 2009 )
"excellent account of a woefully understudied 'war within a war'...Astonishingly, this is the first book" (ANDREW ROBERTS LITERARY REVIEW - December 2009 )
"Colin Smith's light yet detailed touch superbly outlines a wasteful and depressing story... A quality read with many political and military twists and turns." (SOLDIER MAGAZINE - December 2009 )
"Hidden Gem! Not as widely reviewed as it should have been given its quirky take on the well ploughed field of World War Two studies." (THE OLDIE - December 2009 )
"Smith's considerable achievement is to unmask the reality and make us understand this painful period far better than ever before." (CATHOLIC HERALD - 12.10.09 )
"This well-documented and intriguing history unearths one of the least-known episodes of the Second World War... Smith's writing is dispassionate, his writing robust, his sources well-chosen and well-used and his talent for military history self-evident." (GOOD BOOK GUIDE - SEPT 09 )
"absorbing... a fascinating and compelling read." (WESTERN DAILY PRESS - 19.09.09 )
"a classic on the conflict with Hitlers Vichy allies... a superb book on an astonishing array of long-buried incidents." (OXFORD TIMES 03.10.09 )
Book Description
Genuinely new story of the Second World War - the full account of England's last war against France in 1940-42.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Wrong Enemy: A dark chapter brought to light.,
By
This review is from: England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-42 (Hardcover)
Smith's great skill is to illuminate a complex passage of history with strong, clear narrative, brought to life with a profusion of human detail. The war against Vichy France is often treated as a grim footnote to the larger story of the second world war. It was, after all, fought against what one of the protagonists quoted by Smith exactly described as the 'wrong enemy', so it is hardly surprising that it receives less attention than it deserves. Now we have a detailed and brilliantly assembled account in which the reader gets a clear understanding of the historical context and a real sense of what it might have been like to have been involved. As in all the best narratives, the people are brought vividly to life by Smith's sharp eye for human detail, supplemented by generous quotations from eye witnesses.
A thoroughly good read and a very worthwhile contribution to the understanding of one of the darker strands of the complicated relationship between France and England.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Englands last war against France,
By
This review is from: England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-42 (Hardcover)
Most readers will have their own predetermined views
regarding relationships with the French, as the French will have with the English. But Smith has assembled a definitive and impartial account of a very contentious era with France and England. What he has achieved is an invitation for us all, English and French, to have a better in depth understanding of those dark and difficult days of 1940/42. After outlining the making of the Entente Cordiale in the first decades of the 20th century, his story starts first with the Royal Navy's failure to prevent Germany's invasion of Norway then the French view that Dunkirk's British Expeditionary Force was in reality little more than an ill equipped, token army. The defeat of the Allies and the French surrender was irredeemable. This left the powerful French navy available for ownership and culminated in Admiral Somerville's reluctant sinking, with great loss of life, of his recent allies at Mers el-Kebir . These events triggered the Vichy French breaking of diplomatic relations and telegraphed to the world that England, despite the formidable odds, would never make peace with Hitler and was prepared to fight on. Smith possesses the unrivalled ability of maintaining the readers interest to the point of obsession, and has successfully resurrected the campaigns of Syria and Madagascar drawing from the experiences of living participants with vivid first hand accounts of the kind you rarely find in duller historical tomes. This is a truly remarkable book summarising what really took place: a breach of trust involving both countries. Jack Riches
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
England's Last War Against France,
By
This review is from: England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-42 (Hardcover)
I found this an extremely interesting book, particularly for the period when France was initially occupied by the Nazi Germany. The boarding of the French submarine in Portsmouth Harbour and the subsequent loss of life was very revealing about French attitudes to the British at the time, indeed the whole book raised some uncomfortable issues regarding the hostility of some French towards this country.
The campaigns against the Vichy French in Africa were detailed and exciting, but my abiding thought was that so many French and British soldiers lives had been unnecessarily lost. Prior to reading this book I thought I had a good understanding about World War II, however I was woefully ignorant of most of the events described in this book and although it made, at times, for disturbing reading it was a thoroughly worthwhile read.
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