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Editions de Barbotin |
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Trackstory #5 - JUIN 40, L’IMPOSSIBLE SURSAUT (June 1940, The Impossible Revival) |
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Reviewed By Andrew Birkbeck, #27087 |
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MSRP: €19.50 Euros On May 10th 1940, German military units launched “Phase 2” of the Battle of Europe, with simultaneous attacks on Belgium, The Netherlands and France. Within three weeks, the Belgians and the Dutch had surrendered, while the British Expeditionary Force and a substantial amount of the French forces were being squeezed into an ever diminishing pocket of territory surrounding the port of Dunkirk. By May 27th “Operation Dynamo”, the evacuation of these Allied troops had begun, and by June 4th, 338,000 Allied fighting men had been plucked from the beaches surrounding Dunkirk. Yet despite the collapse of the Allied effort in the north, French forces continued to fight on until France finally surrendered on 25th June 1940. This fascinating small book tries to cover the amazing assortment of vehicles pressed into service by the disintegrating French Army following the massive losses of first line material in the opening stages of the campaign. For example, the author points out that by far the most numerous French Army tank during the Battle of France was none other than the WW1 Renault FT-17, numbering well over 1000 vehicles! And many of these “tanks” were pressed into service without properly fitted out turrets, as at the time of the conflict, the French military was suffering a “turret shortage”, and many of the vehicles had been stripped of their turrets, or at best, their main turret armament! The book has a card cover and consists of 62 pages measuring 7 x 9.5 inches on glossy paper. Within these pages one is treated to an amazing collection of black and white photos of the various armored and soft skinned vehicles pressed into service by the French forces, from obsolete WW1 tanks and trucks, to one off prototypes and hastily assembled “jerry rigged” contraptions such as turret-less Char 1B bis tanks. And these are the French manufactured vehicles, for the book also covers foreign-manufactured French military equipment, such as the large numbers of American built trucks (GMC, White, Studebaker) utilized by the French forces, or the 1937 Chevrolet Armored Car the French confiscated from Republican Spanish forces that crossed into France following their defeat by Franco! These photos range in quality from very crisp, to rather blurred, but I suppose when one is dealing with often one-off variants of vehicles photographed during a very chaotic episode of French history, you go with what you have! So far so good, but it is when one gets to the written parts of this book that one encounters major difficulties. The written text is split 50/50 between the French language, and an English translation of the French text. The English translation is not the best I have read, not by a long shot. The author also delights in using abbreviations ever opportunity he gets, and so one is constantly required to flip to the front of the book and consult the glossary, wherein you will find 32 French abbreviations (but thankfully also translated into English). The written text is also jammed, somewhat higgledy-piggledy, wherever the author can find space between the photographs. Just when you think you have finished reading a segment, you find it continued without warning two or three pages further into the book. Not only is the English translation of only reasonable quality, but the actual story the author seems to be trying to tell is very disjointed. The text seems to be a random stream of thoughts jotted down, and never edited properly. One gets the picture that it was a very chaotic time for the French armed forces, but the way the details are presented is equally chaotic!! At the end of reading the text, I was informed more than I had been about this period, but I also felt there was still plenty I didn’t understand or know about. This was to me very unfortunate, as I found what was laid out photographically within the pages of the book very interesting. Finally, the book ends with 8 pages of first-rate color artwork covering 16 vehicles. Next to each piece of art work is a small black and white photograph showing the vehicle being depicted, so the reader can view the actual vehicle, and then the artist’s much larger color interpretation. This section of the book I found excellent, with one exception: all the vehicle descriptions are only in French. Now, having read the above paragraphs, you might be forgiven for thinking I won’t be recommending this publication to the members of IPMS/USA, but you would be wrong. As someone who is very much interested in the events of the Battle of France 1940, I am always looking out for books on this subject area. There aren’t that many published, especially compared to the volumes published on the other Allied military forces, let alone the mountains published on the German forces. One takes what one can get, and the Trackstory series of books gives the modeler and historian good photographic coverage of the period, along with some first rate color art work. The written text is where this book falls down, which was disappointing to me as I wanted to know much more about the vehicles under discussion. That said, beggars can’t be choosers as they say, and overall I feel the book would be worth the $25 it would cost to buy (direct from the publishers, including postage). Check out their web site at this link, along with the other books in the series. If like me you have a passion for French WW2 history, you shouldn’t pass up these books. |
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