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Case Red

The Collapse of France

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Case Red

By: Robert Forczyk
Narrated by: Michael Page
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Summary

Even after the legendary evacuation from Dunkirk in June 1940 there were still large British formations fighting the Germans alongside their French allies. After mounting a vigorous counterattack at Abbeville and then engaging a tough defense along the Somme, the British were forced to conduct a second evacuation from the ports of Le Havre, Cherbourg, Brest, and St. Nazaire.

While France was in its death throes, politicians and soldiers debated what to do - flee to England or North Africa, to seek an armistice. Case Red captures the drama of the final three weeks of military operations in France in June 1940, and explains the great impact it had on the course of relations between Britain and France during the remainder of the war. It also addresses the military, political, and human drama of France's collapse in June 1940, and how the windfall of captured military equipment, fuel, and industrial resources enhanced the Third Reich's ability to attack its next foe - the Soviet Union.

©2017 Robert Forczyk (P)2017 Tantor 20th Century Europe Germany Great Britain Military Modern War Imperialism Royalty Soviet Union Air Force Africa Interwar Period
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An enjoyable and interesting book, very well read, especially as the narrator manages to keep energy and coherence going while listing numerous divisional and regimental numbers.
As regards the writing, it is at times a little unsympathetic to the British. Notably the author criticises a perceived British abandonment of France but also describes the French collapse as entirely inevitable.

An interesting exploration of early WW2 but you need to read Churchill’s history to understand it

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It's easy to call soldiers' actions idiotic, cowardly and/or asinine when you're not the one with a Panzer tank column bearing down on you. Opinionated writing aside, this was relatively interesting, moreso for nuggets like how Belgium folded even faster than the French.

Interesting, if a bit judgemental.

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An excellent book. Sometimes hard to follow without maps but well researched and unafraid to challenge conventional wisdom. Lots of new information (to me) here. Excellent performance which is well suited to the story and great French pronunciation.

Excellent history

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France's military performance was dismissed for many years on the basis of well-informed, eye-witnesses e.g. William Shirer who attributed its rapid defeat to two 5th Columns: (a) bourgeois officers who backed the Nazis as bulwark vs USSR; (b) PCF activists who also wanted Germany to win after the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact in 8.1940.
Forczyk has a PhD in international relations and has written a large number of books specializing in e.g. tank warfare in WW2. His text is far from broad-brush i.e. RF has a very detailed knowledge of the topics. He depicts France as putting up a much better fight than they have been given credit for. There were a number of reasons why they lost e.g. failure of its leadership (General Weygand), lack of communication between the UK and France, (e.g. failure of RAF to assist French) German's superior fire-power etc.

Heartening review of France's military in 1940

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as with all the authors books, very well researched and illuminating. A must read for anyone wishing to know more about a much neglected part of history.

excellent

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