Dunkirk: The Complete Story of the First Step in the Defeat of Hitler [Paperback]

Norman Gelb (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In May of 1940, in the midst of World War II, the Germans very nearly destroyed the British Expeditionary Force stationed at the French port of Dunkirk--and probably would have succeeded had Hitler, worried about lengthening supply lines, not called a temporary halt on the morning of May 24. This fortuitous event became popularly known as the first "miracle" of Dunkirk. Following it in quick succession was the second "miracle": an impromptu, heroic effort called Operation Dynamo, in which a motley armada of pleasure steamers, coal barges, fishing boats, yachts and motorboats was marshalled and, in a 10-day ferrying feat back and forth across the English Channel, brought home some 350,000 soldiers who most likely would have been captured or killed when the Germans eventually closed in with ground troops and air forces. The story of the rescue is told in vivid detail by Gelb ( The Berlin Wall ), who also provides the political and strategic contexts of this major turning point in the war. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The story of the dramatic rescue of the British army under the guns of Hitler's panzers has often been told . Gelb is an experienced writer of popular military history, and his anecdotal reprise of the Dunkirk story is suitably fast moving, filled with action, and competent. It is based mostly on standard secondary sources and its historical interpretations are conventional. While this makes entertaining reading, libraries that already have such works as Walter Lord's The Miracle of Dunkirk (LJ 10/1/82) need not purchase. Recommended to public libraries lacking other works on the subject.
- Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Los Angeles
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co (April 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688107370
• ISBN-13: 978-0688107376
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,481,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Coverage of The Events At Dunkirk in 1940!, June 17, 2002

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dunkirk: The Complete Story of the First Step in the Defeat of Hitler (Hardcover)

This is a book that entertainingly presents the events surrounding the stunning German victory and the surprisingly facile defeat of the French army in a few short weeks in late Spring 1940, and the equally spectacular evacuation of the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from the shores of Dunkirk in a desperate and decisive effort to save what was left of the British forces to fight another day. This book by Norman Gelb provides a comprehensive overview of those horrific events, and also illustrates the manifest effect the battle on the long sandy beaches was having on the balance of world transfixed by these monumental events.

After all, the Wehrmacht had by this point nearly completed its masterful conquest of the French, Belgian, and British forces, outflanking, outfighting, and out-maneuvering their opponents to the point of exhaustion and capitulation. In less than three full weeks, the Nazis had accomplished what appeared to be the most extraordinary military campaign of in modern history, and had overrun most of France, Holland, Luxembourg, and Belgium. The coup de grace would have seemed to have been the ultimate destruction of what remained of the formidable BEF on the beaches of Dunkirk and in its surrounding surf, where the disorganized and demoralized Brits waded toward the most outrageously pitiful armada of small boats and other vessels ever assembled. Meanwhile, the Nazis chose to dither, to engage themselves otherwise, and to ultimately squander their chance to make an eventual victory over England much more probable.

Yet the true contribution of the book is not simply to be found in its wonderfully readable description of the evacuation of the BEF at Dunkirk and the reasons the Germans let it happen. Instead, it is his skillful ability to place these events in the context of a wildly overconfident Nazi hierarchy who appears to have been so over-impressed by their easy victory that they made the same kind of careless assumption about the British fighting spirit and their own invincibility that they made about the Russians the next summer. In essence, they forgot the lessons of history, and, believing their own press releases, were content to watch the desperate comedy of the BEF evacuation as if it made no difference. This was, of course, a very costly mistake, for which they paid quite dearly later.

This is a wonderful book, one that shows the strategic import of the Dunkirk rescue along a startling variety of avenues. Therefore, while in essence this is the detailed description of one of the most celebrated escapes in history, it is also the story of how this particular defeat and the moment of uncertainty facing the Wehrmacht found them lacking in imagination and proper regard for their enemies. By underestimating the ability of the British to regroup and rearm, by misunderstanding just how willful and indefatigable they would become, the Nazis, at the moment of their greatest victory, began sowing the seeds of their eventual defeat. This is a terrific book, and one I can heartily recommend to anyone interested in the history of World War Two. Enjoy!