1940: THE REASONS FOR A DEFEAT

To say that the campaign of May–June 1940 has generated an enormous amount of writing is an understatement: rarely has an event in French history left such a mark on our country. Several reasons can be identified: first and foremost, the French Army, which had emerged victorious from the First World War, was forced to lay down its arms after barely two months of fighting. Moreover, the invasion came from Germany — a country defeated two decades earlier, whose resurgence in power in the mid-1930s the entire French political class had chosen to ignore.

This work by specialist Max Schiavon will not dwell on the political or diplomatic causes of the defeat, but instead draws on countless primary sources to examine the strengths and weaknesses of a French Army not always prepared for modern warfare. Arm by arm, the author assesses their effectiveness through an assessment that is sometimes hard-hitting but always fair — for the aim of this work is to finally offer the reader a comprehensive overview of the French Army during those terrible months of May–June 1940... while dismantling the clichés that proliferated in the decades following the end of the Second World War.

A landmark book that proves that even nearly 80 years later, the Battle of France has still not revealed all its secrets!