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Len Deighton brings to bear all the skills of a best-selling novelist in this compelling study.
In Blitzkrieg, Len Deighton turns a searchlight on the rise of Hitler, the lightning dash of his armies to the Channel coast in 1940 and on the debacle of Dunkirk, where — in a mistake that was to trigger his eventual downfall — a quarter of a million British troops were allowed to escape.
PART TWO
Hitler at War 55
Czechoslovakia 58
Britain and France 60
Poland Threatened 63
The Conquest of Poland 68
The Conquest of Norway: Air Power plus Sea Power 75
The Western Front 86
The Maginot Line 88
The Allied Solution: Plan D 90
The High Command 93
PART THREE
Blitzkrieg: Weapons and Methods 97
Back to Schlieffen 100
The Fallacies of 1939 101
The Invention of the Tank 104
The Failure of the Tank 106
Cambrai 107
The New German Infantry Tactics 108
J. F. C. Fuller 110
B. H. Liddell Hart 112
A Changing World 113
Heinz Guderian, Creator of the Blitzkrieg 118
``That's What I Need'' 120
Rash as a Man 125
Tank Design 126
Tank Armament 135
Artillery 137
Half-track Vehicles 141
Infantry 144
Combat Engineers 145
Armored Cars 147
Motor Trucks 148
The Waffen-SS 149
The Commander 151
The Division 153
The Method of Blitzkrieg 155
The Air Forces 159
The Dive Bomber 163
French Aircraft 164
Anti-aircraft Guns 166
French Tanks 169
French Armored Divisions 170
The French Army 174
PART FOUR
The Battle for the River Meuse 177
Blitzkrieg: The Way to Victory 180
The German Plan 181
``Manstein's Plan'' 182
The Forced Landing 187
Luncheon with Hitler 188
Codeword DANZIG, 10 May 1940 190
German Airborne Forces 192
The Gennep Bridge 194
The Moerdijk Bridges 196
Rotterdam 197
The Panzer Divisions Reach the River Meuse 208
Rommel in Dinant Sector 209
Whitsunday, 12 May 209
Monday, 13 May, Dinant 211
Tuesday, 14 May, Dinant 215
Reinhardt Reaches the Meuse at Montherme 216
Guderian at Sedan: The Most Vital Attack 217
Monday, 13 May, Sedan 219
Tuesday, 14 May, Sedan 228
The French 3rd Armored Division 230
The French 1st Armored Division Encounters Rommel 232
The Defense: Command Decisions 233
Wednesday 15 May: Breakout at Montherme 234
The French 2nd Armored Division Encounters Reinhardt 235
Beyond Sedan 236
Friday, 10 May 238
Saturday, 11 May 239
Whitsunday, 12 May 240
Monday, 13 May 242
Tuesday, 14 May 243
The Freiburg Incident 244
PART FIVE
The Flawed Victory 247
General Weygand Takes Command 249
The Battle at Arras: 21 May 250
Dunkirk: The Beginning 255
The Belgian Army 255
Operation Dynamo 256
Lord Gort 258
Dunkirk: The End 260
Dunkirk: The German Halt Order 263
The Battles in Central and Southern France 266
The Missing French Aircraft 269
Capitulation 270
Armistice 273
De Gaulle: One Lonely Voice 273
Congratulations 274
One Fatal Flaw 275
Sources and Bibliography 277
Index 285
Overview
Len Deighton brings to bear all the skills of a best-selling novelist in this compelling study.
In Blitzkrieg, Len Deighton turns a searchlight on the rise of Hitler, the lightning dash of his armies to the Channel coast in 1940 and on the debacle of Dunkirk, where — in a mistake that was to trigger his eventual downfall — a quarter of a million British troops were allowed to escape.