Dunkirk: the Necessary Myth

by Nicholas Harman

CORONET PBK,1981,PHOTOS

Genres: History, British Literature, World War II, Nonfiction, War

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1981

Reviews

[Stefan]

Nicholas Harman does an excellent job dissecting the battle of Dunkirk and the maritime evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force. Harman uses excellent research and entertaining narrative to show how the ‘myth’ of Dunkirk was built after the event had taken place to protect the British public’s fragile morale during the days following the fall of France. Dunkirk: The Necessary Myth does a good job of explaining the contradictory mindsets that existed in London and Paris. For the first several days of the evacuation, the British did not officially acknowledge to the French they were leaving, and so BEF headquarters was told to evacuate all British forces as quickly as possible, meanwhile, Churchill told his envoy to the French to say that the British would stay and fight. It was interesting to discover that less then half of the BEF actually evacuated at Dunkirk, most nonessential personnel had left for England weeks earlier, and the remainder were evacuated in less dramatic circumstances then Dunkirk. It was also interesting to read about the tragic sacrifices the Belgian and French forces made to allow the British to evacuate. This book is a highly readable, accurate account of the British Expeditionary Force before and during Dunkirk. Harman also expertly summarizes the Western campaign from the initial invasion to Dunkirk.

[J.H. Gordon]

I have surprised myself by reading an entire book on the WWII evacuation at Dunkirk. More surprising still, I really enjoyed it.