Author(s): Steven J. Zaloga

War/Military

The Allied airborne and amphibious landings in Normandy on D-Day opened up the long-awaited Second Front against Nazi Germany, but after overcoming the German coastal defences at Utah and 'Bloody Omaha,' the US Army found itself having to contest every hedgerow and street in a nightmarish battle of attrition. It was the humble infantrymen of both sides who would play a vital role in taking and holding key objectives, from the close-quarters warfare around the key French port of Cherbourg in June 1944 to the struggle for Ubach-Palenberg during the Allies' initial thrust into Germany in October and the savage cold-weather fighting of the Germans' Ardennes counter-offensive that December. Featuring full-colour artwork, specially drawn maps, and archive photographs, this study offers key insights into the tactics, leadership, combat performance, and subsequent reputations of six representative US and German infantry battalions pitched into three pivotal actions that determined the course of the campaign for mastery in Western Europe at the height of World War II.