The ex-British Army officer and now a military historian, plus a consultant and author Jim Storr is a friend and he recently posted a provocative article - I have his OK to use this - in relation to the title I have used (See attachment). The article forms part of a forthcoming book 'War and Warfare in the Twentieth Century'. He describes his focus as: No. 1: No. 3: He asks:
No 1 is covered in most histories of the 1940 campaign. Wasn't it the French Seventh Army that was deployed into the Low Countries according to the pre-arranged plans? I thought Ninth Army was along the Meuse? The location of the French reserve is something Churchill asked during the campaign only to be told there was none. I don't think its absence can be regarded as a new discovery. No. 3. Yes, and again, the British anti-shipping campaign in the Mediterranean is well covered in maritime focused histories and the importance of Malta in that campaign is regularly described. No. 5. I thought the Germans tried to regroup on the Seine and then again on the Somme. They didn't evacuate northern France and Belgium, they were hustled out of it! I'd humbly suggest, perhaps provocatively, that Jim needs to do a bit more research. Regards Tom
I will add that there is no need to have studied Latin and Cicero to know what "lacuna" means. Knowing your French is sufficient
It's kind of hard to respond meaningfully without knowing who Jim's target audience is. I suspect many of us on here are aware of the anti-shipping campaign in the Med, or the extent of the French Resistance/FFI disruption of the rail network in the summer of 1944, for example, but we may not be who his work is primarily aimed at, I'd suggest (with enormous fondness and respect for this community). I quite like his "provocative" stance generally, it's interesting to be prompted to look for gaps in a historical narrative, I think.
Fair point, Michel! Although in fact, the usage (like many derived from Latin) is commonplace in academic English.
Not sure about this. Point 2, see most recent work by Richard Hammond. I'd agree it may not have been covered explicitly and covering the whole campaign before, but it now is. All the best Andreas
