My First War: An Army Officer's Journal For May 1940 Through Belgium To Dunkirk (1940) By Captain Sir Basil Bartlett
 
Sir Basil Bartlett is an actor, journalist and playwright; his play The Jersey Lily had a successful run of several months in London last summer. On the outbreak of war he joined the Army and became Field Security Officer of a Division in the B.E.F. in Flanders. The main duties of such an officer were liaison, "to see that relations between the French and the British were cordial"; he was also responsible for thwarting enemy attempts at espionage, sabotage and propaganda within the divisional area. ***Clearly, the author was in a key position to observe what was happening. The journal begins at the opening of May. Everything is quiet in the Lille area, and the surroundings are described with humour and understanding. On the 10th the Germans invade Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg; the British advance into Belgium; then the retreat commences; and after swift vicissitudes the author finds himself in Dunkirk. He is taken aboard a destroyer; she is torpedoed; he is wounded, but survives and is brought home to England.
 
Hard Cover
127 pages
In Good Condition