Product Description

The largest city in Normandy, Caen's position at the extreme left of the Allied beachhead gave it major strategic value for Allies and Germans alike. With the German defendants determined that the city should be held at all costs, General Montgomery's fight for Caen became a long and bloody battle of attrition until 21st Army Group finally took possession of the devastated city on 19 July 1944. This book describes the battle, revealing how, as a result of the British failure to take the city early in the campaign, Caen and its population were immolated - a fate for which Montgomery has been held personally responsible ever since.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159212 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-27
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Ken Ford was born in Hampshire in 1943. He trained as an engineer and spent almost thirty years in the telecommunications industry. Ken now spends his time as an author and a bookseller, specialising in books about military history. He has written a number of books on various World War 2 subjects and is currently settled in Southampton. Howard Gerrard studied at the Wallasey School of Art and has been a freelance designer and illustrator for over 20 years. He has won both the Society of British Aerospace Companies Award and the Wilkinson Sword Trophy and has illustrated a number of books for Osprey including Campaign 69: 'Nagashino 1575' and Campaign 72: 'Jutland 1916'. Howard lives and works in Kent.

Customer Reviews

Mission accomplished - and it was a hard one!
Let's begin by saying that it is really not a piece of cake to write a good AND interesting book on the battle like this one. The battle of Caen was basically an excruciating pushing and shoving match, an attrition battle that lasted months, which in principle is not something very glamourous to write about. Well, Ken Ford did it and he did it REALLY well. I was myself surprised that this book actually wouldn't let me go before I finished it.
The description of the battle is very well structured, clear and precise, with every next development and the reasons behind it very well explained. The maps and illustrations are good, the colour plates are gorgeous!
One minor remark, to the Osprey editing team - according to the text the picture on the page 35 is supposed showing a Forward Artillery Observer guiding the fire of HMS "Exeter"! Well, that is hardly possible, ladies and gentlemen, because in June 1944 she was laying on the bottom of Pacific since more than two years! And that is not a little error, considering the immortal fame of this ship acquired at the Battle of Plata in 1939 and its tragic and heroic fate during the Java battle in 1942. Shame on you guys for putting a black spot on an otherwise extraordinary book.

Monty's Meatgrinder
Ken Ford has done an excellent job with Caen and Osprey now has a series of books that give a clear big picture of the allied landings in France 1944 up to the fall of Paris. Among those books Caen stands out as one of the best and I felt I got to know quite a bit about the struggle and sacrifice. Caen had been the main British D-day objective but one that would take more than a month to complete. In part it was overambitious to expect the landing forces to capture Caen and then British leadership failed by being cautious. Tactical retreats would later lead to huge sacrifices as objectives needed to be recaptured. The Birtish and Canadian forces were well trained and equipped with great air and naval support but most were inexperienced. They faced fanantical SS troops and in a series of costly and failed offensives the armies ground each other down, at a cost in men that neither could afford. Sveral battalions suffered 80% losses and were almost wiped out. The terrain was hard on the attacker and there was little room for maneuvers and limited offensives failed time and time again. It would need a concentrated large scale offensive to break the Germans. The book goes down to personal detail and is very easy to read. The maps are good and the colour plates add to the story. All in all a very good book and fascinating read. I recommend you read "Falaise, 1944: Death of an Army" also by Ford after Caen, it follows the events right after Caen and the victory of the allied forces in Normandy.