95th Rifles: 1800 to Corunna

Saunders, Tim

Pen & Sword

Juno Beach: 3rd Canadian and 79th Armoured Divisions

History

Americas

McGill-Queen's University Press

Over a month after the D-Day landings the Allies were still confined to the Normandy peninsula. The German line was anchored by the medieval town of Caen, which the British were supposed to have occupied on D-Day. The key to capturing Caen was Hill 112, known to the Germans as "Kalverienberg" (or "Mount Calvary").Under pressure from Churchill, Montgomery launched a major offensive. Unfortunately, German reinforcements delayed by Allied bombing were now arriving in the Caen area. The British found themselves facing no less than four SS divisions, the 1st, 2nd, 9th and 10th and the Tigers of the 502nd SS Heavy Panzer Regiment. An all-out Allied effort, including heavy bombers and naval bombardment, was required to secure the final victory.This new addition to the Battleground Europe series details all the action around Hill 112. Numerous illustrations and maps complement the lively text.

Hill 112: The Battle of the Odon (Battleground Europe - Normandy)

Europe

Pen and Sword Military

The 82nd Airborne Division fought some of its most desperate battles in support of the British landings at Arnhem, yet these actions are little known today. All of the units, personalities and actions of this hopeless struggle are covered in the acclaimed Battleground Europe style. This heavily illustrated work also contains a guide to the battle sites, monuments and local facilities as they are today.

Nijmegen: U. S. 82nd Airborne And Guards Armoured Division (Battleground Europe)

Military

Hell's Highway is the dramatic name given to the vital stretch of road that the British 3rd Guards Armoured Division had to advance down rapidly on their route to relieve the American Paras (82d Airborne) at Nijmegen and the British I st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Adopting the clear and successful style of Battleground works this book relies on personal accounts to embellish this dramatic story.

Hell's Highway: U.S. 101st Airborne -1944 (Battleground Europe)

Having fought their way up fifty miles of Hell's Highway and through Nijmegen, XXX Corps was just ten miles from Arnhem and the 1st British Airborne Division. Here it found itself on an island of flat land between the Waal at Nijmegen and the Rhine at Arnhem. The situation was increasingly bad with the remainder of II SS Panzer Corps in the area and German counter attacks on Hell's Highway preventing the Allies applying their material superiority. The Guards Armoured and then 43rd Wessex Infantry Division took turns to lead before reaching the Rhine opposite the paratroopers in the Oosterbeek Perimeter. Attempts to cross the Rhine by the Polish Paras and the Dorset Regiment had little success, but meanwhile, the guns of XXX Corps ensured the survival of the Perimeter. After some desperate fighting on the island, 43rd Wessex Division evacuated just two thousand members of the elite Airborne Division who had landed eight days earlier.

The Island: Nijmegen to Arnhem (Battleground Europe - Operation Market Garden)

Among the veterans that Montgomery brought back with him from the Mediterranean to spearhead the D-day invasion, were West Country infantrymen of 231 Brigade. The Devons, Hampshires and Dorsets had already carried out assault landings in Sicily and in Italy and replaced another brigade that had been provisionally allocated to lead XXX Corps ashore on Jig sector of Gold Beach. Unknown to the Allies, a quality German Division had been moved forward to the coast. This was the same German Division that nearly halted the Americans at OMAHA and the West Countrymen had to fight extremely hard for their objectives. 231 Brigade faced the sternest test of all British troops on D-day.

Gold Beach - JIG: Jig Sector and West - June 1944 (Battleground Europe)

Operation EPSOM was General Montgomery's third attempt to take the City of Caen, which had been a key British D-Day objective. Delayed by a storm, the attack, designed to envelop Caen from the west, eventually began at the end of June 1944. The Territorial Army battalions of 15th Scottish Division spearheaded the attacks through the well developed positions of 12th Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division. It was slow going and when tanks of the 11th Armoured Division dashed to the Odon Bridges they ran into the concentrated fire of dug-in panzers. However, the following day the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders slipped through the German defenses and seized a vital bridge. Armor poured across but, rather than pushing home their advantage, the British prepared to beat off a powerful counterattack from II SS Panzer Corps.

Operation Epsom (Battleground Europe - Normandy)

Review\n“Masséna at Bay, 1811 is a splendid addition to any Napoleonic library.” 
The NYMAS Review\nThe 1810 French invasion of Portugal, commanded by the veteran marshal André Masséna, who was known to Napoleon as the ‘Spoilt Child of Victory’ has been well covered by historians. Conversely, the shock revelation of the presence of the Lines of Torres Vedras baring the French Army of Portugal’s way to their objective of Lisbon, and numerous combats through to the Battle of Funtes de Oñoro, has been frequently and unjustifiably glossed over.\nThis book, starting with the occupation of the Lines of Torres Vedras, which were at the heart of Wellington’s Peninsular strategy from October 1809-1812, is the story of Wellington’s pursuit of Masséna back to Spain. This was a time when the Peninsular Army was still being forged and Wellington was refining his own art of war. In addition, 1810-1811 was a period when the outcome of the struggle in Iberia was still far from certain, and Wellington could not manoeuvre with the same confidence in the outcome as he could in future years.\nThe series of combats fought at Pombal, Redhina, Foz da Arounce and Sabugal while Masséna was at bay, though not categorised as ‘general actions’, were of the same scale and significance as those of 1808; Roliça and Vimiero. The general action at Funtes de Oñoro was one of the most significant of Wellington’s victories, but he confessed that ‘If Bony had been here we would have been beat’.

Masséna at Bay 1811: The Lines of Torres Vedras to Funtes de Oñoro (Peninsular War Battlefield Companion)

After a gap of two years, the 1812 Salamanca Campaign saw Wellington taking the offensive in Spain against Marshal Marmont’s Army of Portugal. Marching from the border fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo which fell to the Allies in January, neither commander was willing to take the risk of a general action without a clear tactical advantage. The result were stand-offs as Wellington offered battle on the San Christóbal Heights, but once the small French-garrisoned forts left behind in Salamanca fell, Marmont withdrew to the Douro. For over a week the two armies shared cooling waters of the river before Marmont ‘humbugged’ Wellington and fell on the Allied left flank at Castrejón. Wellington rushed to the aid of the Light and 4th divisions with the heavy cavalry. Over the following days Marmont dexterously maneuvered Wellington back towards Salamanca, with both armies within cannon shot still not risking battle.\nWhen it seemed Wellington would have to march back to the safety of Portugal, Marmont finally made a mistake on the plains south of Salamanca on 22 July 1812, by allowing his army to become over extended. Wellington saw what was happening and after weeks of marching and counter marching, the battle the soldiers earnestly hoped for was on.\nIn the past it has been difficult to place the fighting on the ground in the center of the Salamanca battlefield, where ‘vast clouds of smoke and dust that rolled along the basin’ obscured vision even for those fighting. Supplementing their letters, diaries and memoirs with modern geographical aids, archaeology and a stout pair of boots, it is now possible to reconcile the sequence of the battle with locations, in a way in which it was not feasible even a few years ago.

Salamanca Campaign 1812

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Saunders, Tim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Saunders, Tim