Customer Reviews

Battle for Mortain: The 30th Infantry Division Saves the Breakout, August 7-12, 1944

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My father landed on Utah Beach in the second wave on June 7, 1944 (D-Day +1). His unit was attached temporarily to the 28th Division, as reinforcements. Later they rejoined their real unit, the 1st Platoon, 2d Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division.

After having defended Hill 314 for four days, out of ammunition and food, my father and three comrades were captured by German SS forces at Mortain on August 11, 1944. He spent the next 11 months in a German POW camp.

Yes, I'm proud of his service. However, I recounted all of this to establish his authority to comment on this book.

A man of few words, he shared that accounts of the aspects of the battle of which he had first-hand knowledge were very accurate. This book enabled my father to finally understand the full scope and nature of the battle, and reinforced for him (and his wife and five children) how amazing it is that he survived the experience.

We continue to pass this book from one family member to the next. We have all found the book to be an excellent read.

As a current member of the 30th Mechanized Brigade I found this book to be an extremely interesting look into the roots and history of a forgotten Division. The author provided a great deal of insight into this critical battle through the personal experiences and recollections of the actual soldiers who fought against some of the best German troops at that time. This book was very informative and details a battle that very few people had heard of, which is a shame considering what these everyday soldiers accomplished under such exteme conditions. I would highly recommend.

Great book. I personally liked to read divisional histories, and this is in my top five. The writer takes you throught he divisions pre war history, European deployemnt, and combat history. The reader gets two stoies here, one is a history of a Army National Guard unit going to war, and the other is the Battle of Moritain, a pivital conflict in the conquest of France. I read it in a weekend, you will find it hard to put down as well.

The German offensive at and near Mortain was another of Hitler's gambles. He wanted to restore the line in the west that was lost when the US 1st Army broke out during Operation Cobra in late July. It was critical to the German defense to restore Avranches as its western anchor as well as isolating 3rd Army to the south. To me the offensive was suicidal. Even if Eberbach was able to reach Avranches, the Germans didn't have the strength to exploit the position. In fact the 1st and 3rd Armies would have probably encircled the Germans causing either surrender or their destruction. None of the German generals believed the offensive had a real chance to succeed.
Mr Featherston begins his story by telling us about the history of 30th Division which dates back to the civil war. He continues in Normandy when the 30th ID fought its way south after the fall of Cherbourg through the hedgerows and then played a key roll in the capture of St Lo and in Operation Cobra. The summary ends with Bradley repositions his troops to block a possible counterattack to retake Avranches while at the same time preparing his troops for the next offensive eastward. Bradley thought the Germans could be pocketed west of the Seine. The 30th ID would be defending Mortain and the high ground to the east of the small town of 1600 residents when Operation Luttich began.
The Allied Air Force is also mentioned. The author speaks of the air force's tendency to shoot first before discovering who they're shooting at. The author also mentions the great job of the US Air Force did in stopping the large Luftwaffe squadron from reaching the assault area and wrecking havoc on the American line, especially on Hill 314 on the first day of the campaign.
The author using information from after action reports, army journals and interviews performed by SLA Marshall after the battle as well as interviews performed by the author years after the war weaved this excellent story of bravery and determination by a few American divisions, especially the 30th ID, and a few FABs in stopping a superior German force from cuting the American line and reaching Avranches. The German outfits that were highlighted were 2nd PzD, 1st SS PzD, 2nd SS PzD along with 9th PzD and the 116th PzD. The engagements at Mortain, and Hill 314 where the isolated troops of the 120th IR, low on water, food and ammo, repulsed enemy's assaults for six days. St Barthelmy, L'Abbaye Blanche, Le Mesnil Adelee and LaBagoge were also given special attention for the fierce fighting that ocurred.
In the last few chapters, the author moves on from Mortain to discuss the 30th ID's involvement at the Falaise Gap, Ardenne Offensive, the Rhine crossing and the reaching of the Elbe River on April 18th, just 50 miles from Berlin. Mr Featherston is highly critical of Montgomery and Bradley for stopping Patton at Argentan. And in the Malmendy-St Vith sector where the 30th was deployed the author is also critical of Eisenhower for releasing the 30th, 82nd and the others on the northern shoulder to Montgomery who immediately orders a withdrawal further north to "tidy up the line" but in so doing makes it harder for the troops to close the pocket in early January.

The maps are good as are the photos. A Notes section and an Index are also included.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read; the author skillfully blends the tactical with the personal. The story is concise and reads easily, giving the reader a good understanding of the important aspects of the battle and the 30th's involvement. You will also learn about the bravery of many individual GIs. The author believes this was an important engagement that has been forgotten and his book is a tribute to the brave men who fought there.
I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more of the Mortain offensive, the 30th ID or see how the US soldier had improved his fighting skills since the landings.

Mr Featherston has done an excellent job recreating the terrific battle of Mortain which ensured the Allied victory in France and the destruction of 19 German division in the Falaise Pocket. The book starts with a short history of the "Old Hickory" 30th US Infantry Division until it reached the Mortain area on August 5, 1944. The battle is analysed in detail and the author overturns many myths surrounding that episode. The Panzer divisions were indeed stopped before the Allied airpower intervened in the noon of August 7 and the Typhoon attacks were not so succesful as the British sources said at that time. Above all, it was the bravery and the stamina of the individual American soldiers that turned the tide of the battle, causing massive damage to the attacking German divisions and holding crucial ground. The same trends would be repeated in the Ardennes in December 1944 on a grander scale. There is also a synopsis of the 30th ID's history after Mortain and the explanation why the Germans regarded it as "Roosevelt's SS troops" and why the US leaders considered it to be the best division in the European Theater of Operations. There are many black & white maps and some good photos, and the only drawback of the book is the persistent misspelling of certain German names, like "Liebstandarte" etc.

What a superb book. Featherston, a journalist by trade, made himself into a first rate military historian with this, his first published work. He even outdoes the mighty Stephen Ambrose here. His focus is the 30th Infantry Division's lone stand at Mortain, as it bore the brunt of the German last great Panzer assault in France.
Much has been written about Mortain, how the Germans threw away their last bit of armored strength in this hopeless, Hitler ordered counterattack (Operation 'Luttich', the German word for Liege, a city in Belgium) and its subsequent repulse. Far too much credit has been given the Allied air forces in this battle and not enough to the infantrymen who faced the onslaught on the ground.
That fact was, that despite air support, the Old Hickory Division met the Germans head on, and this was some of the best German military units, the Waffen SS in addition to other Panzer divisions, and it beat them cold.
Featherston, interviews the veterans and they tell their story with pride, as I think they should. They took on the best Hitler had, and stopped the vaunted German Panzer force dead in its tracks.

This is a must have for any ETO fan.

My uncle was a Staff Sgt / Squad Leader of a 57mm Anti-Tank gun who was killed near the end of this battle, and have sought out every mention of this event in WWII histories too numerous to name, and have spoken with numerous veterans of the 30th Infantry Division ... all participants in the battle. I can tell you from experience that if you have a specific interest in this battle, there is no more thoroughly researched, detailed and accurate account of this battle than is contained in this book.

Also, if you want to look into a lesser-known WWII battle that has not been popularized and written about as much as others, but is truly a reflection of the courage, tenacity and innovation of American fighting men and units, then you will enjoy this as you would a new and undiscovered movie. I promise that if this is your first detailed look at this battle, you will be surprised given the minimal mention of this battle in print, and yet the relative importance of this action on the Battle for France ... possibly due to the fact that it relates to a relatively small unit - the 30th Infantry Division.

Because of the scope and scale of WWII, we often are used to reading in broader histories brief mention of significant actions. For example, books on the entire war do not mention this battle, and others focused on Western Europe may have, at most, a paragraph or less on the Battle of Mortain. We read books and watch movies about the Battle of the Bulge and Pearl Harbor over and over, but haven't even heard about such a key battle that ultimately resulted in maintaining Patton's drive to the Seine, facilitated the capture and destruction of the German 7th Army in the Falaise Pocket, and absorbed Hitler's last great counter-attack in France. Over 1,000 men of the 30th ID gave their lives near Mortain, France over 6 days - it deserves more than a paragraph, and if you are interested in WWII history, you owe this book a look.

Finally, some broad histories, in attempting to shoe-horn in mention of this critical battle, often minimize the courage of the men of the 30th ID by primarily mentioning the impact of air support, or the impact of ULTRA decryptions giving warning of the counter-attack (Mr. Featherstone demonstrates in this book that the troops on the ground did not know the attack was coming, nor were they adequately supplied or positioned for the counter-attack). Leave no doubt, as Mr. Featherstone details in this book, without the courage and sacrifice of these fine young men caught facing 4 German divisions, no amount of air support or ULTRA decryptions would have prevented a costly outcome for the Allies in Normandy, and ultimately a lengthing of the Battle for France.