Book description
When Britain declared war against Germany in September 1939,
thousands of young men sailed across the English Channel to fight for
their country. Among them were the seven soldiers who share their
stories in this book. Some joined up out of patriotism, others for
adventure or the prospect of a secure wage. They were fit, trained and
proud to wear the armband of the British Expeditionary Forces.
For many, the first months were strangely peaceful, but when the
Germans invaded in May 1940 they advanced with shocking speed. The
German armoured columns sliced through neutral Holland and Belgium.
The French Army collapsed and within a week the soldiers of the BEF
were forced to retreat. Fighting tough and bloody rearguard actions,
they endured relentless shelling and fearsome dive-bomb attacks.
Constantly on the move, and facing a German onslaught on three fronts,
they were soon exhausted, hungry and low on ammunition. They headed
finally to their one chance of salvation: the beaches of Dunkirk.
Mike Rossiter tells the stories of seven veterans who went through a
hellish baptism of fire in the first battles on the front line, and
fought in the last-ditch defence of Dunkirk. They saw their comrades
bombed and drowned off the beaches. Their accounts give us a
fascinating and privileged insight into the reality of the war and
what it was really like to face the German Blitzkrieg in 1940. They
take us from the confident, idyllic days of the phoney war in the
French countryside to the sudden shock of battle, from the fear and
confusion of retreat to the wait for an uncertain rescue. These are
the compelling stories of seven men who are proud to say I Fought
at Dunkirk.
Mike Rossiter is the author of a number of bestselling books on men
at war -
Ark Royal, Sink the Belgrano, Target Basra, I Sank the Bismarck
(which he co-authored with John Moffat),
Bomber Flight Berlin
and
We Fought at Arnhem.
