One of the most decisive months of World War II was the 30 days between July 25 and August 25, 1944. After the success of the D-Day landings, the Allied forces found themselves bogged down in a bloody stalemate in Normandy. On July 25, General Bradley launched Operation Cobra to break the deadlock. U.S. forces punched a hole in the German frontline and began a spectacular advance. As Patton's Third Army poured into Brittany and raced south to the Loire, the German army was threatened with encirclement. By the end of August, German forces in Normandy were utterly destroyed, and the remaining German units in central and southern France were in headlong retreat to the German frontier. In this title Steve Zaloga explains how the breakout from Normandy came about.One of the most decisive months of World War II was the 30 days between July 25 and August 25, 1944. After the success of the D-Day landings, the Allied forces found themselves bogged down in a bloody stalemate in Normandy. On July 25, General Bradley launched Operation Cobra to break the deadlock. U.S. forces punched a hole in the German frontline and began a spectacular advance. As Patton's Third Army poured into Brittany and raced south to the Loire, the German army was threatened with encirclement. By the end of August German forces in Normandy were utterly destroyed, and the remaining German units in central and southern France were in headlong retreat to the German frontier. In this title Steve Zaloga explains how the breakout from Normandy came about.Following the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, the Allied forces found themselves facing determined German resistance in the ideal defensive country of the Normandy bocage. A grim war of attrition gradually expanded the beachhead and Caen, an objective for D-Day itself was finally taken on July 13. However, much of the German armor had been drawn to the British section of the front and General Omar Bradley's U.S. First Army was preparing for a breakthrough in the area of St. Lo. On July 25, Bradley launched his attack preceded by carpet bombing by long-range bombers that dropped 4,200 tons of explosives. In the face of heavy resistance Major General Collins, VII Corps broke through Coutances to Avranches, and General Patton's Third Army hurtled through the gap in the German lines at Avranches. While his troops poured into Brittany and south to the Loire, First Army turned east. It was briefly halted by a determined German counter-attack at Mortain that was aimed at Avranches. Meanwhile the British in the north and the Americans from the southwest were closing the pincers on the German forces in Normandy. As the Falaise pocket closed desperate German forces attempted to flee eastwards. 10,000 Germans were killed and 50,000 more captured as the German army in the West disintegrated. A pursuit began that would only halt on the borders of Belgium when the Allies outran their supply lines.

Operation Cobra 1944: Breakout from Normandy (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

History

ZALOGA, Steven J.

Military

Praeger Pub Text

In the wake of the defeat in Normandy in the summer of 1944, Hitler planned to blunt the Allied advance by cutting off Patton's Third Army in the Lorraine with a great Panzer offensive. But Patton's aggressive tactics continued to thwart German plans and led to a series of violent armored battles and the breakout of the American forces. The battle-hardened Wehrmacht confronted the well-equipped and trained U.S. Army. The Germans managed to re-establish a fragile defensive line but could not stop the U.S. Army from establishing bridgeheads over the Moselle along Germany's western frontier.In the wake of the defeat in Normandy in the summer of 1944, Hitler planned to blunt the Allied advance by cutting off Patton's Third Army in the Lorraine with a great Panzer offensive. But Patton's aggressive tactics continued to thwart German plans and led to a series of violent armored battles and the breakout of the American forces. The battle-hardened Wehrmacht confronted the well-equipped and trained U.S. Army. The Germans managed to re-establish a fragile defensive line but could not stop the U.S. Army from establishing bridgeheads over the Moselle along Germany's western frontier.Patton was planning his own offensive to exploit his gains in Lorraine. However, with the Allies concentrating on capturing the key port of Antwerp, he had to accomplish this with his own limited resources. Both sides were planning their offensives in the same place at the same time. The formations clashed head-to-head around the small town of Arracourt on 18-23 September in a classic meeting engagement. By the end of the month Patton's tank units had crushed the Panzer attacks, but the German counter-attack exhausted Patton's limited resources, and his thrust into Germany was pre-empted.

Lorraine 1944: Patton Versus Manteuffel (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

The D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. The greatest armada the world had ever seen was assembled to transport the Allied invasion force across the Channel and open the long-awaited second front against Hitler's Third Reich. Of the landings on the five assault beaches, Omaha Beach was the only one ever in doubt. Within moments of the first wave landing, a third of the assault troops were casualties. Yet by the end of D-Day, the Atlantic Wall had been breached and the U.S. Army's V Corps was firmly entrenched on French soil.
The D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. The greatest armada the world had ever seen was assembled to transport the Allied invasion force across the Channel and open the long-awaited second front against Hitler's Third Reich. Of the landings on the five assault beaches, Omaha Beach was the only one ever in doubt. Within moments of the first wave landing a third of the assault troops were casualties. Yet by the end of D-Day the Atlantic Wall had been breached and the U.S. Army's V Corps was firmly entrenched on French soil.
The D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. During the late spring and early summer of 1944, the roads and ports of southern England were thronged with the troops, vehicles, and ships of the invasion force. The greatest armada the world had ever seen had been assembled to transport U.S. 1st Army and British 2nd Army across the narrow strip of the Channel and open the long-awaited second front against Hitler's Third Reich. The events of this single day took four years of planning and organization and represented one of the most crucial moments of the entire Second World War. The landings were split into four sectors: two British/Canadian and two U.S. Omaha was the easternmost of the two U.S. beaches, and the plan was that the landing forces should rapidly link up with their fellow Americans to the west on Utah beach and the British further to the east on Gold Beach. Allied intelligence had missed and entire German division amongst the defenders at Omaha and things went badly wrong. The first wave of landings suffered heavy casualties, many of the tanks and engineers with special equipment to help the troops get off the beach were lost. The U.S. troops appeared pinned down on the beach and General Eisenhower even considered withdrawing them. However, in determined attacks the German strong points were overcome one by one. At Pointe du hoc, the U.S. Rangers had to scale vertical cliffs before making their assault. Eventually the German defenses were cracked, allowing the troops to begin to push inland.

D-Day 1944: Omaha Beach (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

The D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. During the late spring and early summer of 1944, the roads and ports of southern England were thronged with the troops, vehicles, and ships of the invasion force. The greatest armada the world had ever seen had been assembled to transport U.S. 1st Army and British 2nd Army across the narrow strip of the Channel and open the long-awaited second front against Hitler's Third Reich. This book reveals the events of this single day on Utah beach, one of the two U.S. landings.
The D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. During the late spring and early summer of 1944 the roads and ports of southern England were thronged with the troops, vehicles, and ships of the invasion force. The greatest armada the world had ever seen had been assembled to transport U.S. 1st Army and British 2nd Army across the narrow strip of the Channel and open the long-awaited second front against Hitler's Third Reich. This book reveals the events of this single day on Utah beach, one of the two U.S. landings.
The western flank of the D-Day beachhead was to be secured by the combined methods of a landing on by U.S. 4th Inf. Div. on Omaha Beach at the neck of the Contentin peninsula and the seizure of key locations by the air assault of the 82nd Airborne Division The All Americans and the 101st Airborne Division The Screaming Eagles. In the confusion of the air assault many of the paratroopers overshot their landing zones or were simply dropped in the wrong place. Some landed miles from their targets and others landed amongst a hornet's nest of German troops. Gradually small groups of men assembled and with those weapons available made for their objectives. At St. Mere Eglise, Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne fought house to house against the German 919th Infantry Regiment. At 6:30 a.m., exactly on schedule men of the 4th U.S. Infantry division waded ashore at Omaha Beach. Only it was not Omaha Beach, confused by the smoke the coxswains of the landing craft had hit the beaches 2,000 yards south of Omaha Beach. Their commander, Brigadier-General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., made the instant decision to designate this spot as the landing area. The rest of the assault troops were landed supported by DD Swimming Tanks. By the afternoon of June 6 more than 21,000 men were ashore at Utah. Before nightfall they had linked up with the Airborne forces and the beachhead was five miles deep and controlled the main arterial road from Carentan to St Mere Eglise. The 4th Infantry Divisions casualties were 197 men. The Landings at Utah, starting from the wrong place, had been a success.

D-Day 1944: Utah Beach & Us Airborne Landings (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, began World War II in Europe, pitting the newly modernized army of Europe's great industrial power against the much smaller Polish army and introducing the world to a new style of warfare: Blitzkrieg. Panzer divisions spearheaded the German assault with Stuka dive-bombers prowling ahead spreading terror and mayhem. This book demonstrates how the Polish army was not as backward as it is often portrayed and fielded a tank force larger than that of the contemporary U.S. Army. Its stubborn defense did give the Germans some surprises and German casualties were relatively heavy for such a short campaign.
The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, began World War II in Europe, pitting the newly modernized army of Europe's great industrial power against the much smaller Polish army and introducing the world to a new style of warfare: Blitzkrieg. Panzer divisions spearheaded the German assault with Stuka dive-bombers prowling ahead spreading terror and mayhem. This book demonstrates how the Polish army was not as backward as it is often portrayed and fielded a tank force larger than that of the contemporary U.S. Army. Its stubborn defense did give the Germans some surprises and German casualties were relatively heavy for such a short campaign.
The outcome of the campaign was a foregone conclusion. To further tip the scales, Germany signed a pact with the Soviet Union by which the Red Army would invade Poland two weeks after the German attack. If the outcome was predictable, its conduct was not. The Polish campaign demonstrated the woeful state of the Red Army. The Wehrmacht's contact with the Russians in Poland in 1939 left them with little but contempt for their erstwhile Soviet allies, and strongly influenced Hitler's decision to invade Russia in 1941.

Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

On June 22, 1944, three years to the day after Germany's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, the Red Army launched a massive offensive in Byelorussia. Code named Operation Bagration, this campaign climaxed five weeks later with the Red Army at the gates of Warsaw. The Wehrmacht's Army Group Center was routed, a total of 17 Wehrmacht divisions were utterly destroyed, and over 50 other German divisions were shattered. It was the single most calamitous defeat of the German armed forces in World War II.
On June 22, 1944, three years to the day after Germany's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, the Red Army launched a massive offensive in Byelorussia. Code named Operation Bagration, this campaign climaxed five weeks later with the Red Army at the gates of Warsaw. The Wehrmacht's Army Group Center was routed, a total of 17 Wehrmacht divisions were utterly destroyed, and over 50 other German divisions were shattered. It was the single most calamitous defeat of the German armed forces in World War II.
In many respects Operation Bagration was the 1941 Operation Barbarossa invasion in reverse, fought over many of the same battlefields. The Wehrmacht's Army Group Center was routed, a total of 17 Wehrmacht divisions were utterly destroyed, and over 50 other German divisions were shattered. It was the single most calamitous defeat of the German armed forces in World War II, costing the Wehrmacht more men and material than the cataclysm at Stalingrad 16 months earlier. It was all the more catastrophic because it was timed to coincide with D-Day and the Allied liberation of France. This important Russian campaign is little appreciated in the West, overshadowed by the Normandy campaign.

Bagration 1944: The Destruction of Army Group Center (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

Red Thrust: Attack on the Central Front, Soviet Tactics & Capabilities in the 1990s

Random House Value Publishing

Discusses Soviet strategy and provides technical information on Soviet missiles and missile systems

Soviet Air Defence Missiles: Design, Development and Tactics

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Janes Information Group

This volume opens with a review of the historical background of the Red Army in the year leading up to the outbreak of war in 1939, and follows with a discussion of the major themes in the development of Soviet forces during the Great Patriotic War that ensued in 1941. The Red Army's organizational structures are examined, from high command down to divisional level and below, which should help Western readers to understand the differences between the terminology of the Soviet and common Western (British, US and German) armies. Soviet combat arms - infantry, armor and mechanized forces, cavalry, airborne and special forces and artillery - are described from an organizational viewpoint. This is followed by a technical overview of the equipment - infantry weapons, armored vehicles and artillery, and support equipment. These sections are complemented by informative data charts.

Red Army Handbook 1939-1945

Ness, Leland S.

Sutton Pub Ltd

Stalin's Red Army entered World War II as a relatively untried fighting force. In 1941, with the launch of Operation Barbarossa, it joined battle with Hitler's army, the most powerful in history. After a desperate war of attrition lasting more than four years, the Red Army beat the Nazis into submission on the Eastern Front and won lasting fame and glory in 1945 by eclipsing the military might of the Third Reich. From the army's development prior to the outbreak of war in 1939 to its peak in 1945, every aspect of its force is examined here: the organizational structures, combat arms infantry, amour and mechanized forces, cavalry, airborne, and special forces. A technical overview of infantry weapons, armored vehicles, artillery, and support equipment is also provided. Fully illustrated with a comprehensive selection of archive photographs, charts, and tables of organization, this is a useful source of reference for anyone interested in the armies of World War II.

The Red Army Handbook 1939-1945

The History Press

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