Shorter Notices
With The Foreign Legion At Narvik. By Capitaine Pierre 0. Lapie. Translated by Anthony Merryn. (John Murray. 55.1 ALTHOUGH the general public lumped them together, there were, in fact, three battles of Narvik. The first, a naval battle, took place on April 9th, when one British destroyer was sunk and another ran on shore. In the second, on April xsth, seven enemy destroyers were sunk. The third,"in which land operations were undertaken with the support of the Navy, was fought on Mg 28th, and resulted in the capture of Narvik. Captain Lapin's narrative deals with the interval between the second and third battles, and covers the preparations which led to success. Simply told, by a man with a quick eye for character and a sense et humour, it makes a story of extraordinary charm. Towards the end, the author expresses. the hope that the various legionaries are now the reader's friends. They are indeed • and one is sorry to part company with them. The courage and adaptabiliq of the Foreign Legion can seldom have been shown to bear
advantage than during these operations on unfamiliar ground and under conditions fantastically unlike those where the legionaries were accustomed to work. The book abounds in sympathetic portraits, and Captain Lapie is revealed as a true critic of policy and tactics.
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