The book, the latest in a series of eight Battleground Europe books that
deals with the BEF's campaign in France and Flanders in 1940, covers the
fierce fighting around the Dunkirk Perimeter during May and June 1940
between the retreating British Expeditionary Force and its French allies
and the advancing German army. It covers the area that most people in
Britain associate with the fighting in France in 1940, a military
disaster that could have been much worse. This grievous military setback
was soon transformed into a morale boosting symbol of the resilience of
the British against a Germany that had crushed so many nations in a
matter of weeks.
With over 200 black and white photographs and fourteen maps, this book
looks in some detail at the units deployed around Dunkirk and Nieuport
and their often desperate actions to prevent the inevitable advance of
German forces opposing them. The evacuation of the BEF from the beaches
east of Dunkirk is covered in detail from the perspective of the Royal
Navy and from the standpoint of the soldier on the beaches. Unusual for
a Battleground Europe publication is the inclusion of a walk and drive
around Ramsgate and Dover, covering the English end of the evacuation.
In addition to visits to the relevant cemeteries, the book includes
three appendices and two car tours, one tour covering the whole of the
Dunkirk perimeter and the other covering Ramsgate and Dover, although
there is plenty of scope for walking in both tours. There is also a walk
around De Panne, which takes the tourist along the beach that saw so
much of the evacuation, and into the back areas of the town where the
Germans left their mark when clearing up after the British had gone.
