Product Description

On August 7th 1944, the Canadian Army, reinforced with British Army units, sent four armoured columns south of Caen to close the Falaise Gap. Drawing on eyewitness accounts from tank crews and infantry, this book offers an account of the ensuing battle.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39016 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-21
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Soldier's eye account of the battle placed in wider context
This is a very readable account of the first stage of battle that often gets side-lined, either by the US efforts on the other flank or by the later push on to Falaise. Tout tells the story with extensive use of eye-witness accounts. This gives the reader some small idea of what really concerned the front-line soldier.

He also puts the battle in context and explains why the tactics used by the Canadian General Simonds were so innovative.

Finally, the account of the demise of the German panzer-ace Wittman goes a long way, though not all the way, to explaining what happened.

My only real criticism of the book would be that the second phase of the battle could have been explored further.

THE FORGOTTEN BATTLE OF NORMANDY
This book concentrates on Operation Totalize which was launched by the British and Canadians in August 1944 in an effort to break through the German defences around Caen and meet with Patton and his troops coming up from the South at Falaise, trapping a huge proportion of the German army in France.

This campaign has been overlooked in recent accounts published by major historians given that Patton's 3rd Army drive across France was far more newsworthy and that there were bigger British disasters to write about.

The author actually took part in the operation and backs up his own comments with numerous eye witness accounts from both sides.

A little difficult to follow in places it nevertheless brings to attention a vital operation which would ultimately lead to what has famously become known as "The Falaise Pocket."

Fascinating subject but flawed in presentation
The accounts of Operation Totalize and the personal accounts of the author and others are fascinating, but the book is also frustrating for poor organisation and differences in depth of coverage for different parts of the operation. Highly Anglocentric and concentrating on the author's own unit, the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. And why do military authors continue to try to describe operations without proper maps?