Donald E. Graves is one of Canada’s bestknown military historians and the author or editor of twenty-one books dealing primarily with early nineteenthcentury conflict and Second World War land and naval subjects. His most recent books are And All Their Glory Past: Fort Erie, Plattsburgh and the last Battles in the North, the final volume of a trilogy on the American War of 1812, and Dragon Rampant, a history of the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the Napoleonic War. He is currently working on a history of the Royal Regiment of Canada. Other books published by Frontline include: TAPPING HITLER’S GENERALS Transcripts of Secret Conversations 1942-45 Edited by Sonke Neitzel Foreword by Ian Kershaw 978-1-84832-715-3
PANZER LEADER Memoirs of an Armoured Car Commander, 1944–1945 Otto Henning Foreword by Charles Messenger 978-1-84832-691-0
Frontline Books an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Limited 47 Church Street Barnsley, S. Yorkshire S70 2AS Email: info@frontline-books.com Printed in Great Britain Cover design: Jem Butcher Design Jacket illustration: Panzer grenadiers of the Panzer Lehr Division in their SPW 251 halftrack. (Courtesy Uwe Feist)
COMBAT IN NORMANDY: THE SOLDIER'S EXPERIENCE ‘The war here is a very unequal struggle. We are too weak compared with our opponents. If we had as much support as our enemies, things would have been different long ago. We have to be too careful with our ammunition but we think it important to hit something with the few shots we fire. As opposed to this, Tommy, the same as ever, shoots all over the place indiscriminately . . . but where is our support? I mean the much talked of Retaliation Weapon. There have been rumours for some time that something of the sort is in action against London. But if they don't do something about it here soon, things will look pretty black for us. If Tommy was a bit more of a soldier, he could push us anywhere he wanted to.’ Letter from soldier of 21st Panzer Division, 17 July 1944
COMBAT IN NORMANDY: REPORTS BY SENIOR OFFICERS ‘The [Allied] fighters do not attack in formations, but peel off singly while the others keep on observing. The planes which come down to attack fly out of the sun or alongside the hedges and then jump across them. The enemy considers columns moving to the front better targets than the front itself.’ Report, 3rd Parachute Division, 20 July 1944
THINK OF THE FATHERLAND! BOOSTING MORALE! ‘Foul rumours are the same as bad odours, BOTH ORIGINATE FROM THE REAR . . . It is certain that we will finish this war victoriously just as certain that the glorious 3rd Parachute Division will never cease to fight and will do its duty unvanquished to the end of the war . . . Whoever thinks or speaks differently will be slapped across the face.’ Generalleutnant Schimpf, 14 August 1944
SCAN THE QR CODE FOR MORE FRONTLINE TITLES ISBN 978-1-84832-683-5
9 781848 326835
HB Royal 240x159mm 25mm spine - Turn Round 10mm - Flaps 90mm - 3mm Bleed all round
The 1944 Normandy campaign in original German documents Drawn from the little-known records of the Canadian Army Intelligence Corps A treasure-trove of information for historians, wargamers, re-enactors and modellers
Ordered by Hitler ‘to hold, or to die’ and to fight ‘to the last grenade and round’, the German army was a formidable opponent during the 1944 Normandy campaign. This book depicts the experience of that army in Normandy through its own records and documentation.
Blood and Steel, The Wehrmacht Archive : Normandy 1944 is an informative and colourful collection of translated original orders, diaries, letters, after action reports, and even jokes, as well as Allied technical evaluations of German weapons, vehicles and equipment and transcripts of prisoner of war interrogations. The translations also feature comments from wartime Allied intelligence officers which provide an insight into how the German army was regarded by its opponents at the time. As you read the landser'’s letters to wives and families in Germany, his forbidden diaries, his gripes about food, officers, and shortages of just about everything, the daily life of the German soldier in the long and bloody summer of 1944 will come to life. You will also learn from official documents about his superiors’ efforts to cope with Allied air and artillery superiority, create new tactical methods for all arms and maintain discipline in the face of overwhelming odds with both exaggerated claims of miraculous new ‘Vengeance Weapons’ and threats of the ultimate sanction for desertion or surrender. ISBN 978-1-84832-683-5
£19.99