From 5 to 20 July 1944 American invasion forces ran into fierce resistance around the French town of Saint-Lô, an important railway and road communications center in Normandy. As well as the Heer divisions such as the Panzer Lehr, GIs had to fight the redoubtable paratroopers and Waffen-SS who made them pay a heavy price for each hedgerow and each village they managed to take.
Following the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, the First US Army engaged in a six-week struggle to break out of the Normandy beach-head. The hedgerow country of lower Normandy, called the Bocage, presented unanticipated tactical problems since it proved to be ideal for German infantry defense. This book examines the brutal attritional struggle in June-July 1944 to overcome the determined German defense and secure St Lô. The city was the site of a crucial cross-roads and was thus a vital target for the invading Allied forces; the initial bombing attacks were so severe that the journalist and poet Samuel Beckett would later report that it had been 'bombed out of existence in one night'. The attack by ground forces turned into a brutal attritional struggle to overcome the determined German defense. Using full-colour artwork, photographs and maps, this is the engaging story of one of the key engagements in the Battle of Normandy.
In a personal memoir, the author describes her relationships with the two men closest to her--her father and his brother, Joseph, a charismatic pastor with whom she lived after her parents emigrated from Haiti to the United States.
The you-are-there story of one of the most ferocious small-unit combats in US history . . . As part of the massive Allied invasion of Normandy, three airborne divisions were dropped behind enemy lines to sew confusion in the German rear and prevent panzer reinforcements from reaching the beaches. In the dark early hours of D-Day, this confusion was achieved well enough, as nearly every airborne unit missed its drop zone, creating a kaleidoscope of small-unit combat. Fortunately for the Allies, the 505th Regimental Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division hit on or near its drop zone. Its task was to seize the vital crossroads of Ste Mère Eglise, and to hold the bridge over the Merderet River at nearby La Fière. Benefiting from dynamic battlefield leadership, the paratroopers reached the bridge, only to be met by wave after wave of German tanks and infantry desperate to force the crossing. Reinforced by glider troops, who suffered terribly in their landings from the now-alert Germans, the 505th not only held the vital bridge for three days but launched a counterattack in the teeth of enemy fire to secure their objective once and for all, albeit at gruesome cost. In No Better Place to Die, Robert M. Murphy provides an objective narrative of countless acts of heroism, almost breathtaking in its you are there detail. No World War II veteran is better known in 82nd Airborne circles than Robert M. (Bob) Murphy. A Pathfinder and member of A Company, 505th PIR, Bob was wounded three times in action, and made all four combat jumps with his regiment, fighting in Sicily, Italy, Normandy, and Holland. He was decorated for valor for his role at La Fière, and is a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. After the war, he was instrumental in establishing the 505th RCT Association. A selection of the Military Book Club
Provides a detailed, harrowing account of the D-Day assault on Omaha Beach from the perspective of the soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division as well as from the Gap Assault Team engineers who dealt with mines and other dangerous obstacles.
The gripping story of the men of 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the comrades of the Band of Brothers, from their formation through the D-Day landings and beyond, in their own words. The exploits of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment have long been overshadowed by those of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion. Yet the actions of the 3rd Battalion during the D-Day landings were every bit as incredible. This is the astounding story of how, after suffering many immediate casualties on landing, the surviving paratroopers fought on towards their objective against horrendous odds. Using fascinating first-hand accounts of the soldiers and the French civilians who witnessed the Normandy campaign, and illustrated with black and white photographs and maps throughout, the authors offer a unique and comprehensive account of the experiences of the 3rd Battalion from training through to D-Day and beyond.
A ground-breaking account of the first 24 hours of the D-Day invasion told by a symphony of incredible accounts of unknown and unheralded members of the Allied – and Axis – forces. An epic battle that involved 156,000 men, 7,000 ships and 20,000 armoured vehicles, D-Day was, above all, a tale of individual heroics – of men who were driven to keep fighting until the German defences were smashed and the precarious beachheads secured. This authentic human story – Allied, German, French – has never fully been told. Giles Milton’s bold new history narrates the events of June 6th, 1944 through the tales of survivors from all sides: the teenage Allied conscript, the crack German defender, the French resistance fighter. From the military architects at Supreme Headquarters to the young schoolboy in the Wehrmacht’s bunkers, Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die lays bare the absolute terror of those trapped in the front line of Operation Overlord. It also gives voice to those who have hitherto remained unheard – the French butcher’s daughter, the Panzer Commander’s wife, the chauffeur to the General Staff. This vast canvas of human bravado reveals “the longest day” as never before – less as a masterpiece of strategic planning than a day on which thousands of scared young men found themselves staring death in the face. It is drawn in its entirety from the raw, unvarnished experiences of those who were there.
This fourth selection of articles by Professor Kuttner complements the volumes previously published by Variorum. Its subject is the history of the Church law of the Middle Ages, and the manner in which it has been studied. One group of articles is particularly concerned with the broader implications of medieval law, with its role in the history of doctrines and ideas: other sections focus on the history of the Glossators in modern research, and on the canonists of the period following the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX ” the Glossa Ordinaria and the works of St Raymond of Peñafort and Johannes Andreae form specific areas of interest. As in the previous volumes, there is an extensive section of 'Retractiones", recording the results of further research and assiduously detailing and commenting upon work done in the field since the articles were first published. To facilitate access to all this material, important indexes have also been provided. Cette quatrième collection d'articles du Professeur Kuttner complète les volumes préablement publiés par Variorum. Elle a pour sujet l'histoire du droit l'Eglise au Moyen Age et la manière dont il a été étudie. Un des groupes d'articles traite en particulier des implications plus larges medieval et de son rôle dans l'histoire doctrines et des idées. D'autres se concentrent sur l'histoire des Glossateurs au travers de la recherche moderne et sur les canonistes de la période suivant les décrétales du pape Grégoire IX ” les Glossa Ordinaria et les travaux de St Raymond de Penafort et de Johannes Andreae constituent des passages d'interet spécifiques. De même que dans les volumes précédentes, il existe une importante section de 'Retractiones' ou sont enregistres les résultants de recherches supplémentaires et ou y sont faits un compte-rendu assidueusement détaille, ainsi que des commentaires sur le travail accompli dans la domaine en question depuis la première publication des articles. Afin de faciliter
