After the long winter of the Phoney War the invasion of the Low Countries and France by Hitler’s rampaging armies threw the World into crisis. Chamberlain’s Government fell, Churchill became Prime Minister. France was humiliated, the British Expeditionary Force was only saved by the miracle of Dunkirk but many men and huge amounts of equipment were lost to the Blitzkrieg. England trembled but the invasion never came.

Philip Warner graphically recounts the momentous events of that terrible period thanks to his painstaking research and skillful writing. He demonstrates how the under trained and ill-equipped British forces gallantly but futilely resisted the German land and air onslaught. He emphasizes the understated contribution of the French. This book provides a fresh and invaluable explanation of the military and political events of that extraordinary campaign, which continued on after Dunkirk.