Featured battle : Dien Bien Phu

Part of French Indochina

Date : 13 March 1954 - 07 May 1954

A complete defeat of the French forces, besieged in a fortified position deep in the North Vietmanese jungle by the Viet Minh soldiers under General Giap. The French, in particular batallions of the Foreign Legion, held out for 56 days against incredible odds in an increasingly precarious position, surrounded and starved of supply and reinforcement before weight of numbers, artillery and skillfull concentration of force overwhelmed them. It spelt the end of French involvement in the region.

Fighting Through to Hitler's Germany

Mark Forsdike
If you want to learn the real story of how the Second World war was won in Europe read this book. Packed with the personal stories of the men who were there in the First Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. The Corps, the division and the brigade barely get a mention. The action is with the battalion, companies, platoons, sections, and individuals. Advances are measured in metres and lives. A sobering statistic revealed at the end of the book is that of the 850 Suffolks who landed in Normandy only 187 made it to VE day. Also as an appendix is a list of medals and commendations awarded to members of the battalion.
A nice set of photographs and some very useful maps round out the text.
Though this book purports to be the story of one battalion of one regiment it is really the story of every one of the ‘poor bloody infantry’ of the British army who fought from Normandy to Germany. This ought to be read by everyone interested in WW2 in Europe because it acts as a reminder that when you see the arrows on a map showing the movement of a corps or division at the very sharpest point of that arrow is one man moving forward wearing a steel helmet and carrying a rifle with bayonet fixed and with his mates behind him. Without his skill and determination the arrow does not move.
We very warmly recommend Mark Forsdike’s book to you.

Pen & Sword Military, 2020