'Excellent account of a woefully understudied 'war within a war' ' Literary Review

'England has always been France's most implacable enemy' ? Maréchal Pétain

Napoleon's final defeat in 1815 brought two decades of Anglo-French conflict to an end, but the years that followed were not always ones of peaceful co-existence.

It was an age of empire, of aggressive expansion, and in little more a century, formal shots between Europe's oldest enemies were once again exchanged in anger.

After Hitler's invasion in 1940, an armistice had been signed and France divided: the north was occupied, while the client south became Vichy France.

While there were those who resisted, Britain was effectively alone, and concerns grew over the increasing chances of the French Navy falling into German or Italian hands.

Troops were assembled, rounds chambered, and ultimatums delivered...

From the British bombardment of Mers-el-Kébir to the amphibious landings on Madagascar, there was much embarrassment and regret on both sides, for memories of 1914-18 ran deep.

Addressing a period often overlooked in studies of WWII, Colin Smith paints 1940-1942 in a fresh light and challenges popular belief about wartime Anglo-French relations.

Praise for Colin Smith

'An excellent book, unfailingly well written' -- Sir John Keegan, Daily Telegraph

'A first-class account' -- Sunday Times

'Definitive... a great read' -- Daily Mail

'Smith know how to drive the story along... rich in unpublished source material, beautifully told, shrewd and fair and on occasions wryly funny' -- Patrick Bishop, Daily Telegraph

Colin Smith is a British foreign affairs correspondent and author. He lived in Jerusalem and Cairo as The Observer's Middle East correspondent, and has twice been named International Reporter of the Year. His military histories include the widely acclaimed 'Alamein: War Without Hate', while his works of fiction include 'Spies of Jerusalem' and 'Collateral Damage'.

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• History
• HistoryMilitaryWorld War II
• France20th Century

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