Jean-Yves Mary

On 17th June 1940, the French army, having followed the order given by Weygrand on June 13th, was in full retreat towards the South West with the Germans in pursuit and under orders from Hitler’s directive of 14th June to destroy the French Army. The new head of government. Marshal Petain, announced over the radio the sad pronouncement that the fighting must stop. The Germans aimed to exploit this command to encourage French troupes to surrender themselves. Despite this, numbers of French soldiers, named by Roger Bruge ‘The Fighters of June 18th, courageously continued fighting along the Loire, along the canal of the Marne to the Rhine, and the Maginot Line. Fighting also continued along the Alps in an attempt to win back from the Italians the territories ceded as part of the Armistice. This book recreates these last tragic eight days of the campaign.

On the 5th of June 1940, the Germans launched their second great offensive of the western campaign against a much-enfeebled French army. Despite intense fighting around the Somme and the Aisne the numerical superiority of the enemy began to tell forcing the French troupes to gradually retreat. On June 13th Weygand sent out the order to retreat and save itself at which point it would appear that the campaign was over. However, fierce fighting continued around the areas of the Loire, Verdun, the Sarre and the Rhine. Over twelve days a struggle raged between those who wanted to continue the fight lead by Reynaud and de Gaulle and those who favoured and armistice led by Weygand and Petain. The fall of the Reynaud government on the 16th June sealed the end of the French campaign.

May-June 1940. An unfortunate battle lost in forty-five days. The book covers the daily drama of the men who are overtaken by the rhythm of the battle, subject to the whim of the command, and many of whom were at the end of their sacrifice, which these two volumes propose to retell. A different and completely new vision of a lost battle. Mai-juin 1940. Une bataille malheureuse perdue en quarante-cinq jours. Tout a été dit ou presque, sur ces quarante-cinq jours, que ce soit au travers d’ouvrages généraux couvrant tout ou partie de la période ou de monographies relatant des aspects particuliers de la bataille. Pourtant, jamais un ouvrage n’a abordé l’entièreté des combats au jour le jour, secteur par secteur, de la Hollande à Menton, avec autant de précision. Quarante-cinq jours de combats y sont relatés, les plus emblématiques certes mais aussi, ceux, plus nombreux, que peu de récits ont, à ce jour, sorti de l’oubli quand ils ne sont pas tout simplement ignorés. C’est le drame quotidien de ces hommes dépassés par le rythme de la bataille, ballottés au gré du commandement et dont beaucoup ont été au bout de leur sacrifice, que ces deux volumes se proposent de retracer. Une vision différente et tout à fait inédite d’une bataille perdue. Le Mémorial de la bataille de France … Depuis plus de 40 ans, Jean-Yves MARY se passionne pour les événements de mai-juin 1940. Au travers de la ligne Maginot tout d’abord dont il est devenu l’un des spécialistes grâce à plusieurs ouvrages faisant références et à la réalisation entamée dès 1978, du musée de la ligne Maginot et des troupes d’intervalles sur le site de Fermont. Par l’étude minutieuse, ensuite, des différentes percées opérées par les Allemands au cours de ces deux mois tragiques, études qui se sont matérialisées par la publication de plusieurs ouvrages très documentés sur la progression foudroyante des Panzerdivisionen. Une somme de connaissances amassées au fil des ans qui ont poussé l’auteur à s’attaquer à cet ambitieux projet …

Mai-juin 1940. Une bataille malheureuse perdue en quarante-cinq jours. Tout a été dit ou presque, sur ces quarante-cinq jours, que ce soit au travers d’ouvrages généraux couvrant tout ou partie de la période ou de monographies relatant des aspects particuliers de la bataille. Pourtant, jamais un ouvrage n’a abordé l’entièreté des combats au jour le jour, secteur par secteur, de la Hollande à Menton, avec autant de précision. Quarante-cinq jours de combats y sont relatés, les plus emblématiques certes mais aussi, ceux, plus nombreux, que peu de récits ont, à ce jour, sorti de l’oubli quand ils ne sont pas tout simplement ignorés. C’est le drame quotidien de ces hommes dépassés par le rythme de la bataille, ballottés au gré du commandement et dont beaucoup ont été au bout de leur sacrifice, que ces deux volumes se proposent de retracer. Une vision différente et tout à fait inédite d’une bataille perdue. Le Mémorial de la bataille de France … Depuis plus de 40 ans, Jean-Yves MARY se passionne pour les événements de mai-juin 1940. Au travers de la ligne Maginot tout d’abord dont il est devenu l’un des spécialistes grâce à plusieurs ouvrages faisant références et à la réalisation entamée dès 1978, du musée de la ligne Maginot et des troupes d’intervalles sur le site de Fermont. Par l’étude minutieuse, ensuite, des différentes percées opérées par les Allemands au cours de ces deux mois tragiques, études qui se sont matérialisées par la publication de plusieurs ouvrages très documentés sur la progression foudroyante des Panzerdivisionen. Une somme de connaissances amassées au fil des ans qui ont poussé l’auteur à s’attaquer à cet ambitieux projet ...

In the evening of June 12, Weygand ordered all the troops who were still struggling to make a brutal drop across the front and to retreat as far as possible towards the south in order to avoid what remained of the French army to undergo a total annihilation. The Germans did not take long to realise that the French were slipping away, and thus immediately threw all their units onto the path of the retreating troops in order to thwart what remained of their plans. What resulted was a chase in which on one side, men would sacrifice themselves for a cause already lost while the other men would fall for a cause already won. Contrary to what one might think, the fighting during the second half of June would be as hard as the previous weeks, and bloody clashes would occur on both sides, as much for the conquest of Cherbourg as for Champagne in Burgundy, or in the Alps or along the Swiss border as units of the Gruppe Guderian would lock in a gigantic trap all the armies of the East.Recounted here is the story of these battles often misunderstood or unknown. This book retraces the history in over four hundred pages, and more than a thousand pictures, mostly unpublished. History has, it seems, only wanted to retain the last days of the campaign in defence of Saumur or the fighting of Voreppe, which, however, offers very little justice for men who fell on the Marne, on Saulx, at Montplonne, Saulieu, Saint-Seine-Abbey, at Maîche in Saint Hippolyte on the slopes of the Vosges or in the valley of the Moselle, to mention only a few places where the French soldier has paid honour to his flag all the way to the end.

Jean-Yves Mary offers here an excellent companion piece to the encyclopedia of work on the battles of May-June 1940. Mary focuses on the battles that took place in the Longwy region. He begins with the Longwy stronghold, which was constructed in 1680 by Vauban, and integrated into the Maginot Line in 1920. Mary provides us with excellent details on the entire region of the Maginot Line, the work of the“phony war” with the 3rd Light Cavalry Division. Then comes the war, again in this strategic region near Sedan, and the failed cavalry meeting, followed by the battles from 12-14 May on these three lines which came to an end at the stronghold. Heimdal is pleased to offer this exceptional work accompanied by 55 maps, drawings and figures, along with over a thousand never-before-seen photos. French Language

After the success of Jean-Yves Mary’s previous works, in particular Les Corridor des Panzers and Zur Küste, it was quite clear that there was still a huge demand for similar high-quality, detailed books on tanks and their important role in World War II. This first volume contains many fantastic colour photographs of the German tanks, their units and their leaders, along with a detailed history of their engagement. Any avid modeller, keen tank enthusiast or general historian will find this an invaluable resource. French Language

In May 1940, during the Battle of France, the British Expeditionary Force in France aiding the French, was cut off from the rest of the French Army by the German advance. Encircled by the Germans they retreated to the area around the port of Dunkirk. The German land forces could have easily destroyed the British Expeditionary Force, especially when many of the British troops, in their haste to withdraw, had left behind their heavy equipment. This lull in the action gave the British a few days to evacuate by sea. Winston Churchill ordered any ship or boat available, large or small, to pick up the stranded soldiers, and 338,226 men (including 123,000 French soldiers) were evacuated– the miracle of Dunkirk, as Churchill called it. It took over 900 vessels to evacuate the Allied forces. More than 40,000 vehicles as well as massive amounts of other military equipment and supplies were left behind; their value being less than that of trained fighting men. After the success of Corridor des Panzers and Zur Kuste, this new volume takes us directly into the Dunkirk arena, and concludes the suite of works on this dramatic period of history. Jean-Yves Mary has also provided modern photos of the battlefields, in comparison with the original images, allowing us to locate the areas where the events took place.

May-June 1940 - the breakthrough of the Panzers - is the focus of this new battlefield guide by specialist historian, Jean-Yves Mary. Supplementing the previous two volumes (Corridor des Panzers and Zur Kuste), this guide permits the reader to follow—crossing towns and villages, particularly Ardennes—the itinerary of the battles presented in the two volumes of Corridor des panzers. Included are numerous photos comparing the sites as they were in 1940 to present day, along with colour maps.