HISTORY:
** 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. **
** Quoted from the back cover of the book and the Pen & Sword website.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword Books has released Normandy Beyond The Beaches as part of their Images of War series of books. It is a 208-page softcover book, 7.4 x 9.7 inches in size. Included with the text are black and white photographs with detailed captions. The book has a 2024 copyright, a publication date of October 2, 2024, and the ISBN is 978-1-3990-3206-3.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
Abbreviations
Chapter One
- Strategic Situation and Aims of the Normandy Campaign
Chapter Two
- The Allied landings at Normandy, 5-6 June 1944
Chapter Three
- Commanders and Combatants
Chapter Four
- Initial Inland Movements from the Beaches
Chapter Five
- US First Army’s Capture of Cherbourg and Movement Towards Saint-Lô
Chapter Six
- The Anglo-Canadian Siege of Caen and the Falaise-Argentan ‘Pocket’
Epilogue
Bibliography
THE TEXT:
Author Jon Diamond provides a well written and informative text detailing the Normandy Campaign during World War II. There are a total of 7 pages of text, not including the pages titled Introduction, Abbreviations and Bibliography. The remainder of the book is dedicated to the photographs and the captions associated with them as well as one blank page titled “Notes” for the reader to make notes if so desired. Even with the limited number of pages of text, Jon Diamond goes into detail with a no-nonsense style of writing that provides information on the Normandy Campaign from the allies planning and execution of the landings during D-Day through the breakout and the Allied attacks on key locations such as Cherbourg and Caen. I feel that Jon Diamond has covered the Normandy Campaign well and has provided the information in an easy-to-read format which the detailed oriented reader will benefit from. The author doesn’t use what I refer to as fluff writing where a large amount of non-essential extra text is provided just to help fill the pages. As I read through the text, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS:
A total of 248 black and white photographs are included in this volume. No color photographs are featured. Author Jon Diamond chose subject specific photographs and did not include photographs that strayed from the main subject of the book. Most of the photographs are clear and easily viewable; however, a few of them are somewhat blurry and a few of them appear to be too dark, while others appear to be too light. This can be typical for the period of history and the quality of the photographs is of no fault of the author and they do not take anything away from the book. I have seen some of the featured photographs in other publications dealing with the same subject matter, however the majority of them were new to me. There are several excellent photographs of both Allied and Axis subjects such as the various types of uniforms worn and personal gear carried, small arms, armor, soft-skinned vehicles such as trucks, jeeps and staff cars, aircraft including bombers, fighters and gliders, artillery, types of various barricades and beach defenses, German bunkers such as machinegun and tank turret bunkers, Allied ships, landing craft, boats, and much more. The majority, if not all, of the photographs will prove to be of great interest to the scale modeler as well as anyone interested in the Allied and Axis forces and their actions during the Normandy Campaign in World War II due to the details they contain. Please refer to the attached scans that I have provided to view the types of photographs contained in the book.
THE CAPTIONS:
The captions are well written and explain the accompanying photographs nicely. The captions go into very specific detail as to the actions taking place, the names of specific individuals shown and their military rank and military unit they are assigned to, the various types of uniforms, small arms, armor, soft-skinned vehicles, aircraft, artillery, types of various barricades and beach defenses, German bunkers such as machinegun and tank turret bunkers, Allied ships, landing craft, and boats shown as well as dates and locations and other such pertinent information. As I read through the captions, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. I was impressed by Jon Diamond’s captions as they are very helpful to the reader due to their detailed content as opposed to other captions that I have seen that are very brief and lacking in detail.
CONCLUSION:
As with the other volumes of the Images of War titles from Pen & Sword Books, I was impressed with this title. This is a very nice reference book that contains a well written informative text, many subject-specific photographs, well detailed captions and more, all detailing operations that took place during the Normandy Campaign during World War II. As with the other Pen & Sword Books titles, I would have no hesitation in recommending this title to others as it will be a welcome addition to one’s personal military reference library.
Pen & Sword Books, Normandy Beyond The Beaches, is also available electronically as (ePub).
File Size: 90.7 MB (.epub) Pages: 208, ISBN: 978-1-3990-3207-0
PRICE
UK £16.99 / US $27.95
https://www.casematepublishers.com/
This book, from Pen & Sword Books, was provided to me by Casemate Publishers. Please mention that you saw the book reviewed here on the KitMaker Network when you make your purchase. Thank you.