No ISBN
49 pages + 59 mapsheets

Introduction; map legend

   As the Introduction explains, the study of military history requires maps, and this book provides some serious cartography.
   We've previously had much good to say about the German map series Der Zweite Weltkrieg im Kartenbild, including Der Westfeldzug, 10 Mai bis 25 Juni 1940. The German volume includes 58 maps at 12 inches wide by 16.25 inches tall, mostly scaled at approximately 1:2,200,000. On those maps Klaus-Jurgen Thies plots the locations and movements of German (blue), French (red), British (also red), Belgian (brown, and then red), Dutch (green, and then red), and Italian (green) forces on a daily basis from the invasion until the armistice, plus a few preliminary maps showing plans and dispositions from 9 September 1939 until the eve of the invasion. Each division and some sub-divisional units for each army are identified and located, and corps, army, and army group HQs are also pinpointed. Although not perfect (Allied deployments and IDs are sometimes a little shaky, and the maps are labeled "evening," so that locations do not necessarily reflect the latest positions before midnight), these are spectacular maps that clearly and graphically portray the day-by-day progress of the campaign.
   Forty years ago the Historical Service of the French Army produced as part of its official series a map volume even more imposing than the excellent one from Thies. According to the cover, it's titled Campagne 1939-1940: Les Grandes Unites Francaises: Cartes des Situations Journalieres, produced by Ministere des Armees, Etat-Major de l'Armee de Terre, Service Historique. The title page offers a different version of the title: Les Armees Francaises dans la 2eme Guerre Mondiale: Campagne 1939-1940: Atlas des Situations Quotidiennes des Armees Alliees. Anyway you slice it, though, this book covers exactly the same territory as the Thies volume: the German and Italian invasions of France, Luxemburg, Belgium, and the Netherlands in 1940.
   While the Thies volume is already sufficiently oversized that it won't fit on most bookshelves, the French volume is even more impressive at 18.5 inches wide by 22.5 inches tall. What's more, unlike the German maps, all the French maps unfold to a huge 29 inches by 22.5 inches. Some are scaled at 1:2,000,000 but most at 1:1,000,000.
   Otherwise, the two volumes are very similar. The French maps start with the situation on 2 September 1939 (including boxes listing, but not displaying, French forces in North Africa and the Levant) and 24 September, then jump to deployments on the evening of 9 May 1940. Beginning with the German invasion on 10 May, one full-size map for each day tracks movements and positions as of "evening." Unlike the Thies maps, these don't show German and Italian units, but French (red), British (green), Belgian (brown), and Dutch (yellow) divisions (and many sub-divisional units) are all carefully displayed.
   While it's true that Axis units aren't shown, the Allied positions are more precisely delineated than on the German maps. That's partly due to the better scale of the huge French pages, which allows room for more information. For example, on the German map for 24 May, the Dunkirk perimeter is well drawn, but the dozens of isolated Allied units are simply listed rather than marked in their proper positions. On the French map for the same date, all the French, British, and Belgian units are shown, each in its appropriate sector.
   On the page facing each daily German map Thies provides a synopsis of Wehrmacht situation reports (all in German) to complement the day's cartography. The French volume gives similar one-page situation reports (all in French) for most days, but these are printed on separate pages (10 inches wide by 10.5 inches tall) bound between the large mapsheets.
   All the German Der Zweite Weltkrieg im Kartenbild volumes are large, impressive, pleasingly produced atlases highly recommended. They are, however, dwarfed by the even larger and more impressive French atlas, also very pleasing to the eye and touch. The only shortcoming to Atlas des Situations Quotidiennes des Armees Alliees is the complete lack of information for Axis units. For anyone who needs to see positions of units of both opposing forces, only the Thies book will do. For anyone who wants more information and more precise information about Allied units, the French volume is the way to go. Unfortunately, it's far, far less accessible. While the German book was published in 1994 and remains readily available from a number of sources, the French volume was published thirty years earlier and is almost impossible to find and acquire.
   No one publishes books like this these days. Quite aside from the considerable value of its contents, the monstrous size, folding pages, multi-colored printing, and craftsman-like binding make this a prized possession for anyone fortunate enough to own a copy.