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An analysis of the tank battle that took place at Villers-Bocage in 1944, when the 7th Armoured Division, or Desert Rats, took on German panzers and were heavily defeated. The text bases its arguments on photographs taken in the aftermath and the testimony of German tank ace Michael Wittmann.
This book has an eight-page gatefold depicting the brigade in battle deployment, with reconnaissance units, advance companies, the main body, the brigade command section, plus all the supporting engineers, signalers, and artillery to provide a visual guide to exactly how many tanks and other armored vehicles were advancing on 13th June.
“If you're looking for a tactical WWII battle in a French village, this provides a top-rate resource.” — Historical Minatures Gaming Society Villers-Bocage remains lodged in the imagination of many readers as a costly and controversial defeat for the British Army in Normandy. This point of view is entirely reliant on just ten minutes of fighting plucked from a two-day battle. This account sets out to rectify that view. Based on prolific first-hand information, including extensive interviews with veterans of the battle, this book explores every facet of the available information, subjecting it to in-depth analysis. Far from being the crushing defeat popularized in many histories, which tend to rely on German propaganda, Villers-Bocage can, in fact, be viewed as a remarkable and compelling recovery from an ambush. The shortcoming was that much of the territory gained in the advance was relinquished, so the first telling of the story was given to the Germans who, quite legitimately under wartime conditions, made the most of their advantage. In this book, Daniel Taylor provides a minutely detailed examination of the course of the fighting, exploring both sides of the debate, allowing the reader to evaluate the strength of the argument. Dozens of first-hand accounts are brought together and placed into a comprehensible and accurate time-line. Both German and British official histories and personal accounts have been pieced together providing an astonishing level of corroboration. Accompanying the written history is extensive mapping and an unprecedented quantity of photographs, from multiple sources, which add definition and visual verification. This book lays to rest the myths built up around the battle.
In this new publication Henri Marie returns to the subject of Villers Bocage with new insights and documentation. A complementary study by a Panzer specialist [Wolfgang Schneider] makes it possible to verify Michael Wittman's real motives in contrast to what German propaganda claimed. This is a controversial yet definitive work on the famous battle between 7th Armoured Division and the s.SS-Pz. Abt. 101, integrating photos from the time with those taken today.
In the week after the D-Day landings, British and Canadian forces in the east were ordered to pin down as many German troops as possible to take the pressure off the Americans, who planned to break out on the western flank. The British commander, Montgomery, wanted to capture Caen, however, and to extend the Allied bridgehead further south. To this end, two battle-hardened divisions were to make a flanking manoeuvre west of Caen, cross the River Odon, break through the enemy positions and take the high ground around Evrecy. 7th Armoured Division, the 'Desert Rats' were to capture Villers Bocage and Evrecy in a 'right hook' while 50th (Tyne Tees) Infantry Division were to take Lingevres and Les Verrieres. Unbeknown to the 'Desert Rats' a number of German Tiger tanks already held the high ground. Led by Waffen-SS tank ace Michael Wittman, these Tigers destroyed almost the entire British advance guard and forced the 'Desert Rats' to withdraw, Wittman's crew accounting for some 25 tanks and other vehicles before being knocked out themselves. At the same time the Geordies of 50th Infantry Division were fighting to take Lingevres and Les Verrieres, ably supported by the tanks of 4/7 Dragoon Guards. Sergeant "Spit" Harris, commanding a Sherman Firefly tank, knocked out no fewer than five Panther tanks, a feat rivalling Wittman's.
This WWII military study examines the combat experiences of three Allied divisions charged with spearheading the invasion of Normandy. To lead the charge into France after the Normandy landings, General Montgomery brought three veteran desert formations back from the Mediterranean. They were the 50th Infantry and 7th Armored divisions, plus 4th Armored Brigade. Their task beyond the beaches was to push south to Villers Bocage with armor on the evening of D-Day in order to disrupt German counter-attacks on the beachhead. Difficulties on 50th Division’s beaches allowed time for German reinforcements to arrive in Normandy. As a result, 4th Armored Brigade was firmly blocked just south of Point 103 after an advance of less than five miles. A major counter-attack by Panzer Lehr failed, as did a renewed British attempt, this time by the vaunted 7th Armored Division, which was halted at Tilly sur Seulles. From here the fighting became a progressively attritional struggle in the hedgerows of the Bocage country south of Bayeux. More units were drawn into the fighting, which steadily extended west. Finally, an opportunity to outflank the German defenses via the Caumont Gap allowed 7th Armored Division to reach Villers Bocage. There then followed what the battalions of 50th Division describe as their ‘most unpleasant period of the war’, in bitter fighting, at often very close quarters, for the ‘next hedgerow’.
Collected in-depth accounts from Nazi commanders chronicling their efforts to fight back against the Allied invasion at Normandy during World War II. The Allied landings on the Normandy beaches in June 1944 were brilliantly executed but proved to be just the opening phase of a desperately fought battle. The German Army responded to the invasion with as much ferocity and force as it could muster, and turned the struggle into a brutal and prolonged campaign. These in-depth reports by German commanders given the task of turning the tables on the invaders is crucial to a full understanding of the battle for Normandy. The accounts David Isby has selected, all written soon after the war’s close for American military intelligence, cover German attempts to stem the invasion, dramatic defensive battles in the Norman countryside and attempts to implement a series of counterattacks. This vital source material presents the German perspective on the fighting, from regimental to corps level, and graphically illustrates the wealth of problems faced by an army on the very brink of destruction.
Accounts of what it was like to command a tank in combat Contains maps, official documents, newspaper clippings, and orders of battle Volume Two follows Michael Wittmann and his unit into Normandy to defend against the Allied invasion. A week after D-Day, Wittmann achieved his greatest success. On June 13, 1944, near Villers Bocage, the panzer ace and his crew attacked a British armored unit, single-handedly destroying more than a dozen tanks and preventing an enemy breakthrough. The exploit made Wittmann a national hero in Germany and a legend in the annals of war. He was killed two months later while attempting to repulse an Allied assault, but the book continues beyond his death until the Leibstandarte's surrender.
The most famous tank of World War II, the Tiger was a monster of a machine that dominated the battlefields of Europe and beyond. Originally conceived in response to the German Army's experience fighting British tanks in western Europe and North Africa, the Tiger cemented its reputation of near invincibility during the savage battles of the Eastern Front. This is a complete illustrated guide to one of the world's most famous fighting vehicles, exploring its history, its strengths and weaknesses and its combat performance as it duelled against the best the Allies had to give. Drawing on a wealth of research, detailed illustrations and contemporary photographs, this book reveals how this remarkable tank became an icon of military history.