*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting and evacuations written by soldiers on both sides *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents “The Navy; using nearly 1;100 ships of all kinds; carried over 335;000 men; French and British; out of the jaws of death and shame [...] We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations. But there was a victory inside this deliverance […] we shall fight on the beaches; we shall fight on the landing grounds; we shall fight in the fields and in the streets; we shall fight in the hills […] until […] the New World; with all its power and might; steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.†– Winston Churchill; June 4; 1940 “Blitzkrieg†or “Lightning War†describes the Third Reich's invasion strategy during its 1940 conquest of France not only due to the speed of the Wehrmacht advance but also its devastating effect on its ill-prepared adversaries. Mired in the paralyzing muck of plodding staff college military doctrine and demoralized as a nation by their appalling losses during World War I; the French succumbed in a few weeks to German skill and vigor. Moreover; after being lured into Belgium by a large-scale German feint; the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and over a million French soldiers found themselves cut off by the main Wehrmacht thrust. Heinz Guderian and Irwin Rommel; among others; led their panzers on an 11-day dash from the Ardennes Forest to the coast; trapping vast numbers of Allied soldiers in Belgium and northeastern France. The surrender of more than 1;200;000 isolated troops followed; yet in the midst of this disaster; the Allies contrived one coup that took even the victorious Wehrmacht aback: the evacuation of over 300;000 soldiers from the port of Dunkirk. This escape; hailed as “miraculous†at the time; provided England with a solid defensive force; the French with the kernel of a “Free French†army for the future; and the Western Allies with an invaluable boost to their morale during one of the war's darkest moments. Hitler's Order of the Day on June 5th; 1940 placed no special emphasis on the end of the Dunkirk evacuation save as the milestone marking full German triumph in the north. While a leader never celebrates the successes of his enemies; the Fuhrer's terse commentary – and subsequent; very real expectations that the British would sue for peace and possibly even overthrow Churchill - suggest that he attached little significance to the BEF slipping through his fingers: “Soldiers of the West Front! Dunkirk has fallen… with it has ended the greatest battle of world history. Soldiers! My confidence in you knew no bounds. You have not disappointed me.†With the clarity of historical hindsight; events proved Churchill correct. Operation Dynamo; as the British named the Dunkirk evacuation mission; bolstered British morale and defenses sufficiently to keep the “Sceptered Isle†in the war. This; in turn; led to the eventual entry of the United States; whose lethal air force; powerful navy; strategic successes; and massive Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union helped doom Adolf Hitler's “Thousand-Year Reich†to a ruinous end in 1945. The Miracle of Dunkirk: The History of the World War II Battle and Evacuation that Helped Save Britain from Nazi Germany chronicles the operations that saved over 300;000 Allied soldiers from being trapped. Along with pictures of important people; places; and events; you will learn about Dunkirk like never before; in no time at all.
#983020 in Books 2016-08-09Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.50 x 1.50 x 6.50l; .0 #File Name: 1510707565692 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. The best description of the worst journey in the worldBy StasieWords fail me when I talk about the Heroic Age of the Antarctic explorations of the past century so to describe this and similar books I purchased here and read: "Endurance" (Shackleton's voyage of 1914-17); "Birdie Bowers - Captain Scott's Marvel"; "Captain Scott's Last Expedition" (his diaries); this "Worst Journey..." I just take off my hat; bow to the experiences and courage of both the authors and their characters; and hold a respectful silence.The author of this particular book has gone long lengths at I guess a great personal expense to revive his memories; put them to words; make a selfless effort to decorate them with delicate humour; scrape to the surface every single raw detail and present us with the vivid and precious description of the Worst Journey in the World.Thank you; Cherry! Hope writing this book helped you; at least a little bit; to come to terms with what had happened in the great white vastness in that dreadful setting winter of 1912.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. The Best Book for the Worst JourneyBy SpinninginAntarcticaAs one of the participants in the Terra Nova Expedition; Apsley Cherry-Garrard is more than qualified to write about it. He brings to life the events and adventures of the men of Scott's Expedtition; the good things and the bad things; the dreary things and the exciting things.When he begins the book; "Cherry" seems to be angry; railing at the circumstances of the trip; but then he hits a stride and remembers the event rather than the emotion of it; which makes for much better reading. Relating the tale of the party waking at 2am to the sound of booming; realizing that the ice on which they are camped has broken off into floes and they are now on the way out to sea; the horses on the other floe; kind of give the reader pause. Cherry recounts the story of the rest of the day; the campers hop-scotching from one floe to the next; WITH horses; trying to make it back to shore; all the time watched by Orcas; with one eye out of the water; circling and waiting.....can't get much more exciting than that....But it does!You'll just have to read it yourself and find out!Marion10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. classic travel bookBy sad and timelessThe Worst Journey in the World has been called the one of the greatest travel book in English; and not just by me. At one time it was about to go out of print and was brought back from the edge of death by enthusiasts writing appreciations of it for magazines and newspapers. It is a fabulous; hair-raising page-turner about a group of intrepid Englishmen; part of the doomed Scott polar expedition; who rather breezily set off in the polar winter on a side expedition to the coast to get eggs of the emperor penguin for scientific study. Sub-zero temperatures! howling winds! crummy equipment! arctic darkness! stiff (literally) upper lips! They are all there.
