"Colin Smith, a veteran war correspondent, has built an impressive reputation as a military historian.... a fascinating story."
Max Hastings, The Sunday Times - 16.08.09 |
"grim revelations about the thousands of allies killed by troops loyal to Vichy."
(Our Choice of the Best Recent books The Sunday Times - 23.08.09) |
"his descriptions of these obscure battlefield encounters are thrilling and his narrative is spruce and peppery."
Christopher Silvester The Daily Telegraph - 29.08.09 |
"there is much of the flavour of Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy in Smith's delight in arcane detail and rumbustious anecdote…a narrative of war that has much of Patrick O'Brian about it.. there are few who can, like Smith, bring to life these lesser-known battles and the unknown soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought them."
Carmen Callil The Guardian 24.10.09 |
"battles in dramatic detail, using not only official records and personal diaries, but eyewitness accounts from participants"
Charles Glass London Review of Books - December 2009 |
"excellent account of a woefully understudied 'war within a war'...Astonishingly, this is the first book"
Andrew Roberts Literary Review - December 2009 |
"Colin Smith's light yet detailed touch superbly outlines a wasteful and depressing story... A quality read with many political and military twists and turns."
Soldier Magazine - December 2009 |
"Hidden Gem! Not as widely reviewed as it should have been given its quirky take on the well ploughed field of World War Two studies."
The Oldie - December 2009 |
"Smith's considerable achievement is to unmask the reality and make us understand this painful period far better than ever before."
Catholic Herald - 12.10.09 |
"This well-documented and intriguing history unearths one of the least-known episodes of the Second World War... Smith's writing is dispassionate, his writing robust, his sources well-chosen and well-used and his talent for military history self-evident."
Good Book Guide - SEPT 09 |
"absorbing... a fascinating and compelling read."
Western Daily Press - 19.09.09 |
"a classic on the conflict with Hitlers Vichy allies... a superb book on an astonishing array of long-buried incidents."
Oxford Times 03.10.09 |
