David Drake (5) (1946–)

have to point out something that's less annoying than simply, well, funny. To wit:

"_départements_, or departments --"
pg 13

"Défense de la France (In Defence of France)"
pg 180

"Rassemblement national populaire (RNP)"
[here, perhaps, I could've used a helpful "National Popular Rally"]
pg 182

"local town halls (_mairies_)"
[this is more complicated. Why doesn't he use the one style, French first then parenthetical English. But, no. And, in the immediately following paragraph, he'll use the French or the English. Whatever!]
pg 19

"Noyautage des adminstrations publiques (NAP), a clandestine organization of French officials devoted to subverting the work of the French administrative machine from within ... ."
pg 306

"Mouvements unis de la Résistance (United Movements of the Resistance, or MUR)"
pg 308

Yes, I needed the MUR so helpfully translated, but no, don't bother with the NAP.

and, there's this one:

?? which guy, Chamberin or Lafont or Chamberlin or Lafont?
"... was headed by Henri Chamberlin, now known as Henri Lafont.
"As the Germans advanced on Paris in June 1940, Chamberlin, then a thirty-eight-year-old small-time French crook, was one of a cohort of prisoners evacuated from the Cherche-Midi prison in Paris to a camp at Cepoy in the Loiret. In the subsequent chaos that swept throught France that summer, Lafont made his way back to Paris ... ."
pg 315

Altogether very good. Two interesting things towards the end, though. Just one large paragraph about Oradure-sur-Glane, the terrible story of an SS troop massacring an entire village. No
mention of the Alsatian malgré-nous involved.

Also, he writes, "... the rumours that the Germans had mined bridges across the Seine and packed dynamite into buildings across the city were completely untrue."… (mais)

A fascinating traumatic account of Paris during the German occupation.
This is the result of the author's 10 year research using diary and memoir accounts of the people who lived and worked during that awful time.
It begins in 1939 - the time of the so called "Phoney War" and works up to the liberation with stories of courage and resourcefulness in between.
Although liberation was welcomed, the war was not over as there were pockets of German soldiers holding out.
The conclusion chapter pulls all the ends together covering the aftermath, how the Parisians rebuilt, coped with food shortages etc.
Altogether a telling account of the lives of a very brave courageous people.
I received a digital copy from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.… (mais)