(Yicai Global) July 25 -- The film Dunkirk written and directed by the British Director Christopher Nolan debuts this month in the US and will be released in mainland China on Sept. 1. The film is rewritten from the famous event the Battle of Dunkirk in World War II, when 400,000 surrounded Anglo-French Allied Forces on Dunkirk Beach had to fight the approaching German Army. After withdrawing, the Anglo-French Allied Expeditionary Force successfully returned to Britain and saved the army from obliteration. 

Like many significant events in WWII, the Battle of Dunkirk has become a story literati and film directors like to interpret. Although it was a withdrawal to preserve strength after a disastrous defeat, many historians tout it as a 'victorious battle' or the 'Dunkirk Miracle.' The following five books will help you review important historical events in WWII and know the background to the withdrawal.

Modernity and the Holocaust

Author: Zygmunt Bauman

Publisher: Yilin Press

Why is such terror (the Holocaust or Shoah) possible? Why did the Shoah arise in the center of world civilization? In this book, Bauman, one of the most important contemporary sociologists and philosophers, urges his readers to ponder such questions, and suggests the answer. In his opinion, the Holocaust was neither a tragedy in Jewish history, nor an aberration among the German nation. He attributes the Shoah rather to an institutional element in modern society to imbue it with sociological significance. Bauman wants people to reflect not only on the Holocaust but also various risks lurking behind our modern milieu. How does hyper-rationality lead to extreme non-rationality? Bauman explains this process profoundly, and offers his means of salvation: individuals must assume an unconditional moral responsibility in every case.     

Three Major WWII German Army Documents

Author: Heinz Wilhelm Guderian, Liddell Hart, Erich V. Manstein

Publisher: Democracy and Construction Publishing House 

Before the evacuation, the nearest German Army tank was only 10 miles from Dunkirk. On May 24, 1940, the German Army received a stop order Hitler issued himself. This order provided favorable conditions for withdrawal of the Anglo-French Allied Force. Many were shocked at this sudden order from Hitler, and leaders of German tank units were confused as well.

In Panzer Leader, German General Heinz Guderian recalls the advance of German tanks, and said the command had already issued, but that on May 24 the army did not in fact relent in its attack.

Panzer Leader, The Rommel Papers and Lost Victories together make up Three Major WWII German Army Documents

The Rommel Papers were written by Liddell Hart, a British military ideologist, based on Rommel's wartime documents. It expounds on Rommel's experiences in the French and North African campaigns, and the defensive battle in France to counter the Allies' Operation Overlord -- the Normandy Landing. It reveals the inner world of Rommel -- the Desert Fox -- and provides the inside gen on the operations of high-level armies of the Axis, Allies and Nazis. In Lost Victories, Manstein, with his experience in the WWII as the plot line, introduces details of Germany's invasions based on his own diary and other data, particularly describing in detail several major battles in which he commanded, and airs his views on the events and important figures of the titanic struggle.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Author: William L. Shirer

Publisher: World Affairs Press

Regarding the command of Hitler on stopping attack, many historical materials tend to hold that the counterattack of British army on May 22 resulted in misjudgment of headquarters of Army Group A, which initiatively proposed suspending the attack. In The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, partial text also described what happened that time. On May 24 when the order was given, Hitler visited headquarters of Army Group A, and Rundstedt suggested that the German armored division along the canal near Dunkirk pause its advance to let the infantry could catch up, a suggestion Hitler approved.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a blockbuster best-seller that reveals the history of Nazi Germany. Using numerous speeches and records, private diaries, secret documents and recordings of telephone conversations, it narrates the 12 years during which Germany rose and fell.

The Second World War

Author: John Keegan

Publisher: Peking University Press

The author John Keegan was the war editor for London-based The Daily Telegraph, as well as an outstanding military historian. The Second World War is a masterpiece in which he concisely sums up the history of the conflict in over 400 pages.

Keegan wrote the book from two perspectives, one is war tactics, and the other human nature. He first focuses on world leaders facing strategic dilemmas and the impacts of their decisions. He conducts a detailed analysis of the Battle of Britain, Battle of Crete, Battle of Midway, the Falaise Pocket, Battle of Berlin and Battle of Okinawa. Citing these important battles as examples, the author analyzed six important forms of war, as well as the key to victory.

The Last Witnesses: The Book of Unchildlike Stories

Author: Svetlana Alexandravna Alexievich

Publisher: Jiuzhou Press

Belarussian Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015, presents a true history of the Great Patriotic War from 1941 to 1945 through the recorded memories of many Soviets who were only 10 or 12 years old when the war broke out.