This volume of the set dealt with the German attacks in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Belgium, Luxumberg, and France. Based on the title I had expected a more general volume detailing tactics and organization of the Blitzkrieg, including the attack into Poland. This is not the case. It goes almost entirely in a chronological order from the spring of 1940 to the fall of France, and then deals somewhat with the Battle of Britian. All very familiar ground to anyone who studies WWII.

While the German Panzers were to become legendary, and would be the strongest mid war armor, at this stage in the war they were still much weaker then what we commonly think of. They were lighter, and had a much smaller main gun. It was their mobility and speed, in coordination with air support that was their main strength. In several engagements with with older French Char B tanks the German armor was unable to damage them took heavy losses. One such engagement invloved Charles DeGaulle. Due to slow decision making and poor intelligence, the french never brought a large concentrated force of these tanks into the fight in one place at one time.

Germany actually landed Airborne troops in gliders on the roofs (similar in size and appearance to pastures) of several massive Dutch forts.

Many critcize the decision by the German High Command to delay before sending in tanks at Dunkirk. This book looks at some of the maintenance and logistical concerns being experienced by the Panzer Divisions after several weeks of hard combat. Most of the Panzer Divisions were operating below half strength, not from combat losses, but from a need for time to make repairs.

The Good: Operational maps and photos. The maps are detailed and do a great job of showing battle progress and positions.

The Bad: Scandinavia and the Battle of Britain....they are like poor bookends on the main focus of the book, the assualt into France. Neither is given enough detail or room and would be better dealt with seperately.

The Ugly: Dunkirk of course. And you never hear many good comments about the Allied defenders, and that is with fairly good reason. One typical example is of a a French General being given overall command and being so unaware of how quickly the Germans had advanced that he drove straight into them and was captured before he ever reached his new headquarters.