AGAINST ALL ODDS - The British Army of 1939-40 by Smurthwaite, David; Washington, Linda; Nicholls, Mark

National Army Museum, London, 1990. first UK standard edition, hard bound in illustrated laminated hard covers, 8 1/2 x 12, VG condition ( slight surface scuffing to rear cover), 96 pages, well illustrated in B&W and color......................................... On the morning of Sunday 3 September 1939, Britain once again found herself at war with Germany Within hours, the first soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force were crossing the sea to France, taking up positions in country where their fathers had fought and died, little more than twenty years before. After long years of political and financial neglect, the British Army, for all the individual spirit and determination of its officers and men, was unprepared and ill-equipped for the grim work ahead. In the Spring of 1940, the failure of the Norwegian expedition was swiftly followed by the disastrous campaign in north-west Europe. By midsummer the Empire stood alone, initial optimism being replaced by a realization that the road to victory would be long, bitter, and bloody.................................................................Supplementing the official records with personal recollections, and making full use of photographs never before published, 'Against All Odds' tells the story of that Army - of the desperate efforts to fashion a modern fighting force to match the growth of the Nazi menace, of the baptism of fire upon the fields of Scandinavia and France, and the evacuation from Dunkirk. It examines in turn the fighting and service elements of that Army and looks too at the contribution of the Dominions and Empire, to explain both the initial failures and the changes which helped bring about final victory.