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Dunkirk

Cuddles

       RIP        
Can anyone recommend a good panoramic book about the retreat to Dunkirk? Ideally I want one with lots of anecdotes and vignettes in it.
 
Thirty Days to Dunkirk by Brig G Gough, DSO, MC.

Story of 1st bn Royal Irish Fusiliers defence and rearguard actions written by their OC. Excellent read, full of the sort of thing you are after.

Published 1990 by Bridge Books. I picked my copy up in a second hand book shop.
 
Oooh...that does sound exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. I've got my "Gun buster" book but I want an infantry perspective predominantly. Any more for any more?
 
Dunkirk, the british evacuation 1940 by Robert Jackson
It features lots of different accounts(mostly infantry from what I can remember).

Try here

I have another really good book on dunkirk but I can't for the life think of the full title and author. I'll have to dig it out later and post the details on here
 
Cuddles said:
Oooh...that does sound exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. I've got my "Gun buster" book but I want an infantry perspective predominantly. Any more for any more?

Cuddles

You could also try the following:-

Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore - Hardback has been out for a year, paperback out in a month or so.

Finest Hour by Phil Craig and Tim Clayton has a lot of interviews and stories from the British point of View.

The Battle For France And Flanders: Sixty Years On by Edited by Professor Brian Bond is a collection of papers which offer some interesting insights.

If you have access to the Daily Telegraph reprints of "War Illustrated" then you will find a good account of the Gunners at Hondegem - much better than in Honour Titles of the Royal Artillery.

If you haven't read it before, you could also try the chapters in "History of the RA - Years of Defeat" by Martin Farndale.

Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 (Mass Market Paperback) by Siegfried Knappe has a good chapter about what it was like to be in the Wehrmacht in that operation, as does Kurt Meyer's Grenadier.

We also have some places on our Battlefield Tour to Dunkirk 25-27 May (the right time of year) http://www.remembrancetravel.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=tour.view&id=4

http://www.remembrancetravel.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=tour.view&id=4

This will be led by Colonel Christopher Newbould ex Glosters, who is related to Peter Vaux, often quoted as a witness to the Arras Counter Attack (supported by "Gun Buster" in 365 Bty). Christopher Newbould designs the tours we run for the ATRs as well as many of our adult tours.

We have a lot of original source material not included in the popular books, including the story of the DLI at Arras (also covered by "Gun Buster") Glosters Ox & Bucks at Cassel, the Warwicks at Wormoult and the defence of the Dunkirk Perimeter.
 
Poppy_Travel said:
Cuddles said:
Oooh...that does sound exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. I've got my "Gun buster" book but I want an infantry perspective predominantly. Any more for any more?

Cuddles

You could also try the following:-

Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore - Hardback has been out for a year, paperback out in a month or so.

Finest Hour by Phil Craig and Tim Clayton has a lot of interviews and stories from the British point of View.

The Battle For France And Flanders: Sixty Years On by Edited by Professor Brian Bond is a collection of papers which offer some interesting insights.

If you have access to the Daily Telegraph reprints of "War Illustrated" then you will find a good account of the Gunners at Hondegem - much better than in Honour Titles of the Royal Artillery.

If you haven't read it before, you could also try the chapters in "History of the RA - Years of Defeat" by Martin Farndale.

Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 (Mass Market Paperback) by Siegfried Knappe has a good chapter about what it was like to be in the Wehrmacht in that operation, as does Kurt Meyer's Grenadier.

We also have some places on our Battlefield Tour to Dunkirk 25-27 May (the right time of year) http://www.remembrancetravel.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=tour.view&id=4

http://www.remembrancetravel.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=tour.view&id=4

This will be led by Colonel Christopher Newbould ex Glosters, who is related to Peter Vaux, often quoted as a witness to the Arras Counter Attack (supported by "Gun Buster" in 365 Bty). Christopher Newbould designs the tours we run for the ATRs as well as many of our adult tours.

We have a lot of original source material not included in the popular books, including the story of the DLI at Arras (also covered by "Gun Buster") Glosters Ox & Bucks at Cassel, the Warwicks at Wormoult and the defence of the Dunkirk Perimeter.

Thanks P-T. Funnily enough I had the privilege of often sitting next to Sir Martin in the RUSI Library when he was researching his seminal work.
 
stickybomb said:
This account is short but free and there's another memorial being unveiled in May at Hazebrouck.
Hope this helps.
Sticky.

Good link! I'll pass it on to the guides who cover the 1940 campaign. About 1/3 of recruits trained at ATR Winchester do the 1940 Realities of War Tour.
 
To try and ensure that any book about Dunkirk knows it's stuff just check if there is any reference to the 'Hitler signal' that stopped the panzers, thus enabling our lads to get away. Rommel tore his hair out !
 
On the offchance that anyone's at a loose end in the Hazebrouck area this Saturday, the new memorial is going to be dedicated to the 1st Bucks Battalion at the old orphanage.
 
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