Dunkirk & the Battle of France 1940 / Various

24 tracks. CD41 is proud to present a new archive audio CD, Dunkirk & the Battle of France 1940, featuring unique actuality and broadcast recordings from the first year of the Second World War. Dunkirk & the Battle of France 1940 features 75 minutes of rare material recorded between October 1939 and June 1940. Many are contemporary firsthand accounts by officers and men of the British Expeditionary Force, both during the 'Phoney War' period and during the disastrous land campaign in France and Flanders in May 1940, culminating in the evacuation of 338,000 men from the beaches of Dunkirk. The CD also covers the airborne invasion of Holland, including an account of the escape of the Sadler's Wells Ballet Company by Constant Lambert. Other historic recordings include the first stirring speech by Winston Churchill as Prime Minister on 19 May, the resignation of Neville Chamberlain, the Fall of Calais, landmark BBC news bulletins, J.B. Priestley's historic Postscript to the News, and a grimly humorous song by Kenneth Horne, 'If We Play Up for the Side'. All materials are authentic wartime recordings which have been carefully digitally remastered for CD. The booklet includes archive images and detailed historical notes by James Hayward. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Royal British Legion.