158 The Twentieth Century (1914- 1945}

The manner of execution is as admirable as the speed
of production. It can be asserted that no other country in-
volved in the war displayed itself in public so freely, so com-
pletely 3 and so fast. One thing alone cannot attract unstinted
praise: perhaps inescapably these volumes, produced with the
help of government departments and research assistants, are
not exactly a pleasure to read.

The enterprise comprises two series, both nearly complete,
one military and one civil.999 The military series is founded
on six projected volumes (four have appeared) which deal
with the general situation, planning and control.1000 The
western theatre of war, at the start and the end of hostilities, is
covered in three volumes,1001 the war in North Africa so far in
four,1002 the war in the Far East in five altogether.1003 Lesser
occasions are not forgotten: there are thorough works on the
military defence of the home country and on the Norwegian
fiasco.1004 The four volumes on the aerial attack on Germany
have attracted exceptional attention because of their very

SS9 All published L: HMSO. J. R. M. (now Sir James) Butler is

responsible for the military series, W.K. (now Sir Keith) Hancock

for the civil.
1000 J. R. M. Butler, Grand Strategy, vol. 2 (Sept. 1939 -June 1941).

1957. Pp. xix, 603. Rev: EHR 74, 509^; HJ i, 9af. -J. M. A.

Gwyer and J. R. M. Butler, Grand Strategy, vol. 3 (2 parts: June

1941 - August 1942). 1964. Pp. xv, 783. -John P. W. Ehrman,

Grand Strategy, vols. 5 and 6 (Aug. 1943 -Aug. 1945). 1956. Pp.

xvii, 634; xvi, 422.
jooi LB p^ Ellis, The War in France and Flanders, 1959 —1940. 1953.

Pp. xviii, 425.-Idem, Victory in the West, 2 vols. 1962, 1968.

Pp. xix, 595; xviii, 455.
10021. S. O. Playfair, et al., The Mediterranean and the Middle East,

4 vols. (The early successes against Italy; the Germans come to

the aid of their ally; British fortunes reach their lowest ebb; the

destruction of the Axis forces in Africa.) 1954, 1956, 1960, 1966.

Pp. 506; xi, 392; xvi, 482; xviii, 556. Rev: EHR 83, 8o9fF.
loos 3^ Woodburn, Kirby et al.9 The War against Japan, 5 vols. 1957 -

1969. Pp. xxii, 568; xiv, 541; xix, 559; xxv, 568; xxiii, 599, Rev:

EHR 74, 5i2ff.
1M* Basil Collier, The Defence of the United Kingdom. 1957. Pp. xix, 557.

~T. K. Derry, The Campaign in Norway. 1952. Pp. xvi, 289.