I am SO confused!
Attrition wrote:Eythenkew! I found the books you suggested looking through Amazon, which is a bit disappointing since I hoped they were the ones written by writers rather than historians and that a specialist like you would know of all the historical stuff.
Er, um, what? Who is supposed to write them other than "writers"? Why is it disappointing that they are writers? Would you rather they were illiterate? And who exactly are these writers you are disappointed in? I assure you that Lieutenant Colonel Mark Reardon (USA, Ret) is a historian...he is now Senior Historian at the US Army Cenr for Military History. Ditto Dr. James J. Carafano...he's also retired Army, a graduate of West Point, holds a master's degree and a doctorate in history from Georgetown University as well as a master's degree in strategy from the U.S. Army War College, is a visiting professor at National Defense University and Georgetown University, previously served as an assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and as director of military studies at the Army's Center of Military History. Dr Stephen A. Hart is senior lecturer in the War Studies department, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and lectured in the International Studies Department at the University of Surrey, and in the War Studies Department, King's College London...
So who do you MEAN?
It looks like you'll have to write it for us. Is there much in the US Official History? I think I've read as much as there is on the east end so I need to expand the lodgement westwards and ponder the relationship between events at each end. Thanks.
Thank you for the encomium. But,
Cross Channel Attack and
Breakout and Pursuit are the US Official History. As I mentioned, the first is very good, the second is mediocre. You can also look at the earlier studies
OMAHA Beachhead and
UTAH Beach to Cherbourg, which were the first in the Army Historical Series and are still quite good; they are available online at the US Army Center for Military History website.
Part of the problem is the nature of the US assault and the impact of the Channel storm of 19-21 June. Delays in unit and supply unloading led to emphasis on the operation to seize Cherbourg. Essentially from about 14 June until 2 July there was virtually no major action other than by VII Corps in First Army. That enabled, among other things, the Germans to prepare their hedgerow line almost unimpeded. Therafter, all the emphasis has been on the "main" battle by the 29th Division for St Lo, ignoring the critical roles in the operation of the 2nd Division to the east seizing Hill 192 and the 35th Division to the west seizing Hill 112, and the operations by the 79th and 90th Divisions to seize Mont Castre (Hill 122...has anyone noticed that seemingly ALL hills in Normandy are XX2 meters high?) Similarly, COBRA gets all the attention for VII Corps and Lightening Joe Collins, which means VIII Corps to the west, and V and XIX Corps to the east get overshadowed.