DÜNKIRCHEN 1940: THE GERMAN VIEW OF DUNKIRK

FOR THE BRITISH, DUNKIRK WAS ONE OF THE DEFINING BATTLES OF WWII, THE ARMADA OF 'LITTLE BOATS' SYMBOLISING COURAGE AND DEFIANCE AS THEY RESCUED THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE. BUT HOW DID THE GERMANS VIEW IT?

Author: Robert Kershaw

Publisher: Osprey

Price: £20

The author of this intriguing book Robert Kershaw has 'form', having written It Never Snows in September and War Without Garlands, both accounts of major Second World War battles from a German perspective, the former on Operation Market Garden and the latter the invasion of the Soviet Union. This time round Kershaw has chosen to explore Dunkirk, a battle totally embedded in Britain's Second World War psyche and immortalised in countless films and books - but always from the British standpoint which makes Dünkirchen 1940 a daring choice of topic and one Kershaw pulls off handsomely.

As usual Kershaw - an ex-British Army paratrooper - has researched his subject thoroughly and focused on first-hand accounts by ordinary German soldiers - the landsers - although he admits the difficulty of the task given so few of them involved in the battle survived the war, most being killed over the next four years in Russia. Add to this the fact that German forces involved never numbered more than ten divisions, and a relative paucity of accounts is only to be expected. Despite this, Kershaw has been able to unearth enough material to give the reader an excellent feel for the reality of the fighting; this is especially true of the last quarter or so of the book which tells the story of the battle during its final days.