Normandy Beyond The Beaches - Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

This latest Images of War series book examines the controversial development of the Allied campaign in Normandy in the weeks after the D-Day landings. After overcoming Rommel's beach obstacles and 'Atlantic Wall' fortifications, a secure Allied lodgment of the five beaches developed along the Caen-Bayeux-Carentan axis with a period of consolidation while reinforcements and supplies were built up. The early arrival of 12th SS Hitlerjugend, 21st Panzer and the Panzer Lehr Divisions delayed Montgomery's Anglo-Canadian capture of Caen until mid-July and prevented an early breakout into the countryside inland from Gold, Juno and Sword which was suitable for armoured combat. An early American goal was to cut the Cotentin Peninsula in two at its southern base to prevent the Germans from supplying and strengthening the deep-water port of Cherbourg, which U.S. VII Corps captured on 26 June. Inland from Omaha and Utah, the close 'bocage' country proved advantageous to the German defenders. The Allied breakout occurred at the end of July with Bradley's Operation COBRA near St. Lo followed by the entire Allied front first moving to close the Falaise Gap before heading southward and then pivoting to the east for the capture of the Seine River crossings. These crucial and testing weeks for the Allies are described in graphic contemporary images with full captions and authoritative text. AUTHOR: Jon Diamond MD is a kidney specialist in the USA with a deep interest in the Second World War. He is a keen collector of photographs. His Stilwell and the Chindits, War in the South Pacific, Invasion of Sicily, Invasion of the Italian Mainland: Salerno to Gustav Line, 1943-1944, Onto Rome 1944; Anzio and Victory at Cassino, Beyond Rome to the Alps; Across the Arno and Gothic Line, 1944-1945, Op Plunder - The Rhine River Crossing, MacArthur's Papua New Guinea Campaign, Hell in the Central Pacific, Liberation of the Philippines, Burma Victory, The Fall of Malaya and Singapore and The Battle of Okinawa 1945 are all published by Pen and Sword in the Images of War series. 220 b/w illustrations