THE DRAMA OF 1940 - General André Beaufre

« The wind of History, when it rises, overpowers the will of men, but it is for men to foresee these storms, to contain them, and even, at the limit, to know how to harness them. »
A member of the Grand Quartier général at the time of the Wehrmacht's invasion of France, General André Beaufre was the powerless witness to a collapse without precedent in military history, all the more humiliating in that it could have been avoided.
Drawing on his experience within the French high command, he delivers an unsparing verdict: lack of initiative, considerable technical lag, the passivity of the officer corps… So many factors that bring his account close to the masterpiece of Marc Bloch, L'Étrange Défaite, in which one reads in particular the same impression of generational disconnect felt within the French high command.
If Bloch was a historian caught up in the war, General Beaufre was a military man conscious of the workings of History. The general supplements his memories of the "drôle de guerre" with a sharp and brilliant analysis, at the crossroads of historical and philosophical enquiry: in other words, in the manner of a true strategist.
An exceptional work, whose depth is highlighted by General Nicolas Le Nen in an expert preface accompanied by extensive notes.