Description
18mo, VOL I 174pp and Vol II 176pp Hardcover in brown publisher’s cloth, d/w both in very good condition though Vol II has a small brown stain in middle of the photo on the front of d/w, text in very good condition though with minor foxing throughout both volumes and there is a small, neat stamp of prior owner on both ffep’s as well as two tiny grease marks on the ffep and title page of the second volume. The two volume set is a delightful detailed record of what was at one stage one of the most powerful navies in the world . As WWII was about to evolve, French Naval Command were very confident of their future until the collapse of French armed forces with the May-June 1940 Blitzkrieg. So that most French warships in use or under construction were to have a tragic end, apart from those ships that managed to escape to the UK (to be taken over by the Royal Navy, there were the terrible and avoidablle encounters between British and French warships in African ports in 1940, followed by Allied invasion of French North Africa on one hand and the almost immediate German occupation of Vichy France on the other, resulting in the necessity of the self-scuttling of most of the French Navy in November 1942. Volume One deals with the more major vessels such as aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and battle-ships etc while the second volume covers the smaller units such as sloops, mine sweepers and gun boats. The Series “Navies of the Second World War” presents the most accurate and compact survey of the navies of France, Germany, Holland, America , Japan and Russia all based on authentic documentation and written by true experts with multiple b/w photos of course.