The Week France Fell is a moving account of how ordinary men and women faced the sudden and unexpected defeat of their beloved nation to ruthless Nazi invaders. Based upon interviews and other primary sources, this history offers a revelatory view of the mixture of relief and puzzlement the Germans experienced at the ease of their victory. The author relates how the intrusive hand of bureaucracy paralyzed the nation's response, and how French leaders—Paul Reynaud, Marshal Pétain, Pierre Laval, General Weygand, and Charles DeGaulledeadlocked by conflict, rivalry, and personal ambition, failed to prevent a national catastrophe.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Mr. Barber writes of France with understanding as well as with love. His book is an example of the best sort of historical journalism and is comparable in that genre with Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. (Sunday Telegraph )
Mr. Barber writes of France with understanding as well as with love. His book is an example of the best sort of historical journalism and is comparable in that genre with Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. (Sunday Telegraph )
Noel Barber has done an impressive job in bringing alive the final week of the fall of France. (Los Angeles Times )
A splendid book. (Military Review )
It is books like this that fire the first love of history in many students; any course covering the Second World War would benefit from the inclusion of The Week France Fell on its syllabus. (Michael H. Shirley Historian )
It is books like this that fire the first love of history in many students; any course covering the Second World War would benefit from the inclusion of The Week France Fell on its syllabus. (Michael H. Shirley Historian )
Mr. Barber writes of France with understanding as well as with love. His book is an example of the best sort of historical journalism and is comparable in that genre with Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. (Sunday Telegraph )
Noel Barber has done an impressive job in bringing alive the final week of the fall of France. (Los Angeles Times )
A splendid book. (Military Review )
It is books like this that fire the first love of history in many students; any course covering the Second World War would benefit from the inclusion of The Week France Fell on its syllabus. (Michael H. Shirley Historian )
It is books like this that fire the first love of history in many students; any course covering the Second World War would benefit from the inclusion of The Week France Fell on its syllabus. (Michael H. Shirley Historian )
About the Author
Noel Barber was the chief correspondent of the London Daily Mail and the author of numerous histories, including Seven Days of Freedom. He lives in England.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Gateway Book,
By
This review is from: The Week France Fell: June 10-June 16, 1940 (Paperback)
When I saw the cover of this book the a sense of magnitude just hit me: France was occupied by the Nazis! There stood Hitler and his entourage in front of the Eiffel Tower like tourists! I had to know more and get inside this time that seemed so incomprehensible to me. I wanted to know what it was like from the administrations to the grass roots. Barber's book was my gateway to this time period that now consumes all of my spare time. I am utterly enthralled by France during WWII. You get everything in this short book. Barber not only chronicles the elite's struggles to decide the fate of France, but also portrays them as human. He gets into their heads and exposes all of the scandal and personal issues that each leader faced which may or may not have impacted the final outcome. Could a mistress have played a roll in the decision not to carry on the fight? Perhaps what truly brings this story to life are the interwoven subplots of ordinary people in France. From an important government meeting, we flash to a train where a young girl is fleeing the Nazi advance just before her boarding school is blown up and all of the girls killed, and then to a pilot's cockpit as he watches the sad mass of refugees fleeing Paris for the south. Most of the firsthand accounts are from personal friends of the author. I cannot recommend this book enough. It does not get the attention it deserves as one of the most concise and enjoyable books to cover this remarkable event in history.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Week France Fell,
By John M. Knizner (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Week France Fell (Paperback)
The Week France fell is an excellent book that discusses, not only the military instability, but the political instablity of France and its allies in 1940. The book explains and discusses the Dyle plan that the allies put into place for the defence of France and Belguim. The book portrays the military outdated philosophy of the French fighting machine, in addition to a breach in the chain of command due to replacement of the CIC. This book covers other topics, including the fall through of the French_British alliance for defence in addition to the collapse of confidence in the Cabinet of the President and Prime Minister in France. This book is an excellent work and very information
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