France 1940: Blitzkrieg in the West (Campaign) [Paperback]

Alan Shepperd (Author)

Book Description

Series: Campaign | Publication Date: May 24, 1990

Osprey's Campaign title for France's defeat in the early period of World War II (1939-1945). The German victory of 1940 stunned the world. France, major European power and owner of the world's largest armies had fallen in less than seven weeks to the might of the German Wehrmacht. The secret of the Wehrmacht's success lay in its carefully thought out organization and the tactics of blitzkrieg. Fast moving tank divisions supported by armoured, mobile infantry swept over opposition, helped by both conventional bombers and deadly Stuka dive-bombers. Alan Shepperd's highly detailed text examines the tactics, organization and equipment of the Allied and German forces, and provides a daily account of the most crucial period of the battle.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly visual guides to history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics, and experiences of the opposing forces throughout each campaign, and concluding with a guide to the battlefields today.

About the Author

Alan Shepperd was educated at Magdalen College School and the Royal Military Academy. He served with the British Army during WWII and was for many years Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (May 24, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0850459583
• ISBN-13: 978-0850459586
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Biased and riddled with errors, August 3, 2004

By 

Michael Licari (Cedar Falls, IA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: France 1940: Blitzkrieg in the West (Campaign) (Paperback)

Shepperd's book is yet another in Osprey's large collection of moderately useful publications. It shares the same characteristics of the others, as I have written elsewhere: it is a bland, uneven overview that contains several important mistakes and suffers from some strange interpretations and errors of omission.

The first problem is with the assessments of German and French commanders. Rommell gets the bulk of the attention (some 20 lines out of 73) despite the fact that he was only a divisional commander at the time. Kleist and Guderian get comparative short shrift, even though they were much more influential. Shepperd dispenses with the French command very quickly, mentioning only army, army group, and political leaders. Shepperd's obvious disdain for the French is revealed in his assessment of the French prime minister, Reynaud, which points out the fact that he had an influential mistress (who cares?). In short, Shepperd's presentation of the German and French commanders is inept and trivial.

When Shepperd discusses the opposing armies, he starts to make outright mistakes. He claims, on page 13, that the French 37mm gun mounted in many of their tanks was "useless against contemporary armor". Obviously, Shepperd did not bother to look up any (easily available) data on weaponry and armor of German and French tanks. Contrary to his claim, the French 37mm was more than adequate to deal with the vast bulk of German tanks in 1940 (which were Panzer I and II models). Instead, it was actually the German tanks that lacked the punch to deal with their foes: their 37mm gun could barely deal with the common H35 and R35 tanks, and were of only marginal use (against the sides) of the S35 and B1 tanks. Shepperd simply parrots most of the long-standing myths about the state of the French forces in 1940.

This is revealed by his comment about the employment of French tanks. He implies that the French threw most of their tanks away by employing only four armored divisions (each with 160 tanks). He overlooks the fact that there were also three light mechanized divisions (each with 260 tanks) as well as five light cavalry divisions (each with 44 tanks). The French did distribute many tanks to independent tank battalions, but about a third of these tanks were FT17s, left over from World War I. Although over a thousand useful R35 and H35 models were distributed to these battalions as well, the French army was more mobile and concentrated its tanks far more than Shepperd admits. Effectively, the count is 7 French armored divisions against 10 German. And yes, the German divisions had more tanks in each one, but 58% of their tanks in the field were Pz I and Pz II models, which can hardly be termed "tanks".

Shepperd further disparages the French army by sniping at its perceived immobility; this is not done overtly, but the implication is there: he shows pictures of French troops by their horses, and notes that guns were horse-drawn and "moving slowly" (page 39), while ignoring the fact the vast bulk of the German army was in the exact same situation (in fact, this is what caused so much worry at higher levels of command during the campaign: the panzers were dramatically outrunning the entire horse-drawn and foot-marching German army). Shepperd is also way off on French morale: recent scholarship on the campaign reveals that the French were confident that they would win, given they had the superior army. Shepperd's German-centric book is also revealed in errors of omission: he does not present the structure of a French division despite providing one for a panzer division, and he ignores successful battles fought by the French (as in front of Gembloux, where Prioux's two light mechanized divisions beat the 3rd and 4th panzer divisions). Finally, the campaign itself is told in the fashion of a broad overview: not much detail and presented in a straightforward textbook-like fashion. Clearly, there is better, more detailed writing on the portion of the campaign Shepperd covers.

In the end, these books are for modelers and wargamers, not those interested in getting an accurate history of a campaign. So, how useful is it in this regard? Again, one star. There are quite a few pictures, most of which are commonly seen. The color plates of men and vehicles are mostly badly drawn, with washed out coloring. The 3-D maps that form the central attraction for wargamers are interesting, as always. They will provide some inspiration for putting miniatures on the table top, but the maps are "zoomed out" so there is not much detail.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing and shallow effort, August 15, 2010

By 

Jared M (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: France 1940: Blitzkrieg in the West (Campaign) (Paperback)

Quite simply, this is one of the more disappointing entries in Osprey's Campaign Series. This is largely due to the nature of the campaign itself, which involved a rapid advance right across the interior of France. The likes of Normandy and Austerlitz (two of Osprey's earlier Campaign titles) have a much more limited focus as thus is better dealt in a slender volume such as the Campaign Series. The vast movements of the German army are trivialised into disjointed day by day narrative and a few battles, some of which (the crossing of the Meuse in particular) probably deserve their own titles in the Campaign Series! I notice Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 invasion of Russia, is dealt with by Osprey across three titles (Army Groups South, Centre and North) in the Campaign Series, such was the depth of that campaign. France 1940 probably deserves a similar approach, perhaps by treating Von Bock's foray and holding movements separately to Rundstedt's thrust through the Ardennes. However, even this approach is still unlikely to be satisfactory.

A further disappointment is the illustrations. The majority of the photographs have little to commend themselves and do not provide much context to the narrative. Some are just plain pointless. For example, there is a two page plan view of a ME109 on pages 22 and 23; the text preceding these pages (and immediately following) is about the morale of the French forces. In any event, a profile view of the same plane had already been provided on page 18! I suspect that at least one of the illustrations is incorrectly captioned (a Panzer II Ausf. b is identified as a Panzer II Ausf. B on page 14 - there is a difference between these two models). The narrative itself is rushed - this is most apparent in the section of the book discussing the commanders in which both French and German commanders are given short shrift. In this instance, given the illustrations did not provide as much context as one would have liked, it seems to be that more effort could have gone into the text by sacrificing some of the illustrations (e.g. that two page spread of the ME109!).

I have a number of the titles within Osprey's Campaign Series. Given the slender nature of these books (96 pages usually), I do not expect a detailed account of the battles and campaigns - I like being able to dip into the books without having to invest too much in learning of the context. If the book is of interest, I then seek out further reading. Even so, France 1940 does not do the subject justice, even to my militarily uneducated mind. Still, I suppose France 1940 does provide a basic overview (emphasis on basic), as well as key events, of the campaign, and as such may have some appeal to those who do not require a reasonable appreciation of the events of May 1940. Otherwise, it is best avoided. A better appreciation of France's fall may be found in The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940 (Making of the Modern World).

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For modelers, rather than for historians, June 29, 2000

By 

Federico Kereki (Miami, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: France 1940: Blitzkrieg in the West (Campaign) (Paperback)

In the usual Campaign series format, highlights from the book are the topological maps in 3D and the uniforms and equipment sketches. (These drawings actually come from other Osprey series, such as WARRIORS, MEN AT ARMS, or ELITE.)

The historical treatment is not too deep (the book isn't that long!) but gives a nice overview of the whole lightning campaign.

There is some extra material for wargamers at the end, but, as said, the main users of this book will be modelers (as I am!).