The Forgotten Dunkirk

Everyone knows the story of Dunkirk, the 'little boats' and the rescue of the BEF, less well know is that the British Army's involvement in the Battle of France did not cease with the conclusion of Operation Dynamo. I've just finished Iain Gale's The Black Jackals, not the greatest piece of war fiction written but interesting in that it avoids following the bulk of the BEF to the Dunkirk beaches and ends up with its characters fighting with the 51st 'Highland' Division, itself attached to the French IXth Corps at Abbeville.

51st Division, near River Bresle, 1940

The story of the delayed attempt to rescue the division from Le Harve and Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme (and the eventual rescue of some troops from Veules-les-Roses) is fascinating, if somewhat depressing in that pointless political decisions sealed the fate of thousands of men , and I am going to try and seek out a good history book on the subject as it has certainly piqued my interest.

Of course it has brought me back to pondering the Wacht Am Escargot project, especially as the bag of French tanks and infantry is proving somewhat ellusive and having picked up some of the excellent  Zvezda German armour I need to make a decision about infantry (ie. whether to stick with Peter Pig). I also need to decide whether to keeping hunting for the missing French or work on the basis they will turn up when I stop looking for them and raise a small BEF force whilst they come out of hiding  (although if I do this, what to buy as Zvezda are releasing BEF for Art of Tactic starting with a Matilda I in 1/100th this year?)

Perhaps I should just put this all on the back burner for the time being and see what the Russians produce tank wise for the BEF (or I could just buy a few German and British infantry at Salute and maybe some 2 pdrs...)