Customer Reviews

Lightning War: Blitzkrieg in the West, 1940

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Lightning War" is a well written and compelling history of the German invasion of the Low Countries and France in 1940.

Author and Professor Ronald E. Powaski writes well and explains clearly and methodically why France and Britain were so quickly defeated by a numerically and qualitatively inferior German Army. He takes the reader, step by step, through the key decisions and actions by both sides, which resulted in an unprecedented Wehrmacht victory. Those not familiar with the campaign will finish this book much better educated on Germany's "Blitzkrieg" campaign in the West.

If all historians wrote history as well as Powaski it would be a much more popular subject and we would have a much better educated population.

The book is well illustrated with photographs, many of them new. Like all books, however, "Lightning War" suffers from weaknesses. The first is the lack of maps, which would have allowed the reader to follow the action being described. "Lightning War" could have benefited from more maps, but here one must blame the editors rather than the author.

Another, more important, weakness is that vast bulk of references cited are secondary, despite the fact that Powaski stresses his use of primary sources early in the book. Thus, there is little new in this book. Still, sometimes an important story needs to be retold.

However, by repeating previous history Powaski propagates several old myths, dismissed long ago. Certainly the most glaring, which arises early in the book, is that the German panzer Generals took their ideas from British historian and strategist Basil Liddell Hart. This myth was dispelled some time ago by another historian, John J. Mearsheimer, in his ground-breaking "Liddell Hart and the Weight of History".

Another is that Hitler danced a jig after the defeat of France. This was based on a clip of Adolph Hitler stomping his foot several times and appearing as though he is dancing. Historians disproved this myth long ago and the short film clip is actually a loop of Hitler stamping his foot once in glee over the French defeat.

Nonetheless, this is very good history and Powaski shows that we can still learn a great deal from previously published material. He puts the blame for the defeat of France squarely on French shoulders and attributes it primary to its military leaders. "The French military was led by too many old men," he writes, "men like Gamelin, who, more than anyone else, was responsible for the decision to send France's best armies into Belgium."

Powaski also gives credit to the Wehrmacht, who, of course, had a great deal to do with the French and British defeat. Its leadership, doctrine, organization, and mode of operations ensured that the Germany army and air force were much better prepared to exploit new opportunities and retain the initiative for much of the campaign. As a result the French were simply unable to get inside the German High Command's decision cycle.

Overall, "Lightning War" is a very good read indeed!

This is a very solid book on the May 1940 German invasion of Belgium, Holland, and France and the subsequent Allied evacuation of troops from Dunkirk. The casual reader (I'm including myself, here) may be a bit put off by the first half of the book, which details the German thrust through the Ardennes forest into Belgium. I found this section to be overly technical, with the chessboard maneuverings of troops on both sides gone into in great detail. It also didn't help that the maps are few and far between, and are too general. For all the detail that the author goes into he really needed more maps, with each one covering a smaller area. (The maps were not created for this book, by the way. They are all borrowed from William Shirer's "Collapse Of The Third Republic.") So, that's on the downside. But here's the good news: the book really picks up in the second half, with a much better balance of technical description with human interest. I don't think you will find a better-written account of the Dunkirk evacuation, with many first-person accounts of the action- and the behind the scenes political action in London, Paris, and Brussels, as well. The author is very even-handed in his account and, in my opinion, he draws the proper conclusions from the evidence presented. The British intentionally delayed, almost to the last moment, telling the French that the retreat to Dunkirk was only the prelude to the British intention of evacuating all troops from the Continent. They wanted the French to fight on to "cover" the evacuation, so the French were allowed to believe that Dunkirk was going to be turned into a gathering point from which to launch a counterattack. British claims that the French soldiers "threw in the towel" were erroneous. The author shows that the common soldiers fought well and bravely. They were let down by the political and military leadership. The officer corps was too old and stuck in the past. They were still thinking in terms of WWI, with tanks in support of infantry. They didn't understand mechanized warfare. If they did, they would have realized that the Ardennes forest was definitely a possible invasion route, and they wouldn't have diverted so many men and so much equipment to the North. The Germans concentrated their tank forces for maximum effectiveness. The French and Belgians spread their tanks out and used them piecemeal. The Germans also used air support, which the French and Belgians didn't. The German commanders were right at the front, and were allowed to think independently and show initiative. Allied commanders were expected to stick to the "game plan" devised by generals who stayed back from the front- and who, therefore, didn't know what was going on. The lessons from the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland were there for all to see- but the lessons weren't learned. The evacuation from Dunkirk, however, was a remarkable achievement. It is ironic that Hitler, who was bold enough to approve the thrust through the Ardennes which precipitated the Allied military collapse, was instrumental in assisting the success of the evacuation. The panzers got so far ahead of the German infantry that even Hitler reverted to a WWI mentality and worried about a counterattack. Against the wishes of his top brass, he halted the panzers for several crucial days- allowing the Allies to re-group and to organize the evacuation. You may be wondering about the significance of the title of this review. I chose it as being representative of the many wonderful first person accounts that are included. It is part of a quotation from Major Angus McCorquodale, a company commander in the British Expeditionary Force. He was an "old-fashioned" soldier, and didn't like the modern uniform. He preferred the old, polished brass and leather. As the major said, "I don't mind dying for my country, but I'm not going to die dressed like a third-rate chauffeur." Later on, after his men had stopped a German infantry advance, McCorquodale pulled out some bottles of sherry and some glasses and proposed a toast "To a very gallant and competent enemy."

This is a pretty good account of the fall of France in 1940 and the "miracle" at Dunkirk. The author writes fairly vividly. The book has good maps.

However, there are a number of problems with the book:

1. It's not very well-sourced. There are hardly any footnotes (just very limited "chapter notes" in the back)

2. The author gets it wrong about a widely known fact. Hitler did not "dance a jig" at Versailles. He stamped his foot and the British did a film loop of that.

3. Another basic error is when the author says the SS grew into a force of several divisions. The SS eventually comprised 38 divisions which is a lot more than several.

4. The author raises the possibility that British soldiers massacred members of the SS after a battle. There is no specific sourcing for that (see #1).

5. The narrative gets a little confusing near the end (the maps).

6. The author doesn't present an accurate number of the French evacuated at Dunkirk (he states a number that is exceeded by the number he mentioned as being evacuated in a single day).

Bottom line: Worthwhile to read but the sloppiness makes it impossible to give it 4 or 5 stars.

From a cursory review, there are some remarkable similarities between Lighting War, written by Ronald Powaski and published by Wiley in 2003, and To Lose a Battle, written by Alistair Horne and published by Little, Brown in 1969.

Both books are histories of the Battle of France in 1940. Chapter 21 of Horne's book, titled "Aftermath," describes the fate of the generals and politicians covered in the book. Powaski's Chapter 10, also titled "Aftermath," includes language that in places is very similar to Horne's. Two examples are presented below.

First is text from Horne (first edition), page 595.

"General Maxime Weygand, after a brief interlude as Minister of National Defence in Petain's Government, was sent to Algeria as Governor General. Here he acquitted himself with distinction, maintaining the spirit of the army there while keeping the Germans at bay. Later he too was imprisoned by the Germans; and later still by his own countrymen, for a short period. He died in 1965, at the venerable age of ninety-eight, mistrustful of the British and shrewdly alert (though rather deaf) to the very end."

The following is from Powaski, page 350:

"General Maxime Weygand also survived the war. He served briefly as Petain's minister of national defense and then was appointed governor-general of Algeria, where he acquitted himself with distinction, maintaining the spirit of his army while keeping the Germans at bay. Later, he too was imprisoned by the Germans and later still by his own country, but only for a short period. He died in 1965 at the venerable age of ninety-eight, mistrustful of the British to the very end."

This is the second example. First is text from Horne, page 596:

"The remaining war years Reynaud spent in German prisons, narrowly escaping the fate of his fellow inmate, Georges Mandel. After the war, he re-entered politics, devoting himself to the cause of European unity, and once more became a minister. His first wife having died, he remarried in 1949 (aged seventy-one) and begot three children - the youngest born when he was approaching eighty. Still exercising regularly in the private gymnasium he had constructed in his Paris apartment, Reynaud lived to be eighty-seven. He died in 1966."

The following is from Powaski, page 350:

"Paul Reynaud, however, did not follow de Gaulle into exile. He was imprisoned by the Germans and only narrowly escaped death. After the war, he reentered politics, devoting himself to the cause of European unity, and once more became a minister. After his first wife died, he remarried in 1949 (aged 71) and begot three children, the youngest born when he was approaching eighty. Still exercising regularly in the private gymnasium he had constructed in his Paris apartment, Reynaud lived to be eighty-seven. He died in 1966."

I'm not sure what to make of this, but it seems very odd.

....some faults, the Fort of Douaumont is actualy located in France and not in Belgium so this is an entertaining read albeit i would not advise it to the serious student of history if you do not have some basic knowledge of the facts about the campaign already.

This is an excellent book - extremely well researched and well written. I have read numerous books covering this aspect of World War 2 but in this I found a great deal of new information. Well done.

This is not a review of the book but of the book grading method. This book highlighted (excuse the pun) the main weakness of the current book grading method. The issue I have with all used books is whether there is any highlighting or underlining, especially in colored ink. This book was descibed as 'like new' and it was except for the fact that the first 150 pages had almost all pages highlighted/underlined in first blue, then orange and finally red ink, rendering the book unreadable. Personally regardless of the general condition of a book, I would never buy one with any highlighting. Conversely I would probably be ok with one in 'acceptable' condition provided that it didn't have any of the dreaded colored highlighting. I have previously suggested to Amazon that they should increase awareness of this issue by including in the book grading method, an additional and seperate Y/N flag to indicate if there is any noticeable ink highlighting or underlining within a book. I realise that it isn't practical to ensure that no ink markings exist within each book, but by raising the awareness of this issue by including it as part of the book condition grading process, maybe most of the books with extensive ink marking could be flagged as such. However full marks to the very speedy response from the seller (Yankee Clipper Books) to refund the cost.

Professor Ronald E. Powaski book is an exciting read. The author does a great job of explaining how the outnumbered German Army defeated the Allies. Although the Allies fielded better tanks and more men, the Wehrmacht's superior tactics prevailed. I really enjoyed this book. Powaski's writing style kept me reading well into the night. I had trouble putting the book down. I gave the book four stars instead of five because I thought that Karl-Heinz Frieser's "The Blitzkrieg Legend - The 1940 Campaign in the West" is the best book on the subject. I recommend people do what I did and read both books

The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West

"Lightning War" by Ronald E. Powaski. Sub-titled:" Blitzkrieg In The West, 1940"
John Wiley & Sons, 2003.

The author, Ronald E. Powaski, has produced a 388 paged book, rich in details about the May 1940 invasion of western countries by the Third Reich. He covers the usual facts: e.g. the adoption of the Schlieffen Plan, the delay of the actual invasion until May 10 1940, and the rapid disintegration of the allied forces. France surrendered in June 1940. All of these historical facts are well enough known, but Powaski provides more details than most books about this period. For example, he describes in detail the two German officers who crashed their aircraft in Belgium (at the time, 1939, neutral) while they were carrying the German plans for the invasion through Belgium. This, of course, resulted in the need to change the invasion plans which, in turn, evolved into the genesis of the Schlieffen plan. Besides describing and naming the German officers (details missed in most history books), the author also tells us that the two men spent the entire war in a POW camp in Canada. Interesting. But, more ironically, as punishment for the incident, their wives were also imprisoned inside the Third Reich.

Duplicity of Churchill: I found, in my humble opinion, that the author tends to emphasize the duplicity of the British Prime Minister, Winston S. Churchill, during the time when the allied forces were engaging the German enemy and just prior to the actual surrender of France. Powaski pictures Churchill as waving his right hand and promising RAF squadrons to aid the French , while with his left hand (behind his back), he is motioning the BEF Commanding General, Lord John Gort, to get the British troops down to the sea and across the channel back home. Of course, after the German break through, evacuation at Dunkirk was all that was left to save the bulk of the British army. The chapter on the evacuation of the troops (Chapter Nine, "Operation Dynamo"), is one of the more interesting chapters in the book. Powaski records that many French soldiers were evacuated along with the British. When the French soldiers landed in England, they were immediately loaded on trains and sent to other ports (e.g. Plymouth) to be shipped back to France. These French troops arrived back in France in time for the defeat and in time to surrender to the Germans. This is an interesting detail you will not find in general history books. All in all, I found this to be a well written book.

I'm only just getting into WWII History so don't have too many other books to compare this one by, but from the moment I picked up this book I couldn't put it down. It kept me hooked all the way through.

The Author makes it very clear as to the reasons why France's defense failed - for example the reserve forces being sent to Belgium and the French High Command refusing to believe the attack would come through the Ardennes.

The first part of the battle where the 70 or so German gliders took a Fortress of over 700 soldiers was unbelievable as was the story of when during the Meuse crossing, after several boats were shot up, one team managed to get across and silence the opposing French guns all on their own.

I've given it five stars, but have one small complaint. You follow the story of the Panzer divisions all the way through the book until you get to the (excellently written) chapter on the Dunkirk evacuation and then Hitler gives the halt demand. After the Dunkirk section you get a very small section on the Germans breaking through the Somme forces and taking Paris.

A further chapter after Dunkirk describing the Luftwaffe and Panzer assault on the Somme forces and then onto Paris in more detail would have been the icing on the cake. Furthermore a quick section on how life changed after the occupation for Parisians would have been nice.

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