Customer Reviews

Beyond the Beachhead

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4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
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A well researched book that flows extremely well. The author describes the division's formation, training, and preparations for the invasion of Normandy. The author also describes the German 352nd Infantry Division (primary opponent of the 29th Infantry Division in Normandy) it's background and formation. The author then compares the commanders, each nation's tactics, and overall battle strategy for the Normandy invasion.

The description of the initial assaults into Omaha landing zone is sobering, whole companies annihilated. As the author describes the follow-on landings and the eventual US breakthrough, the author goes into a "what if" analysis. What if the German high command and Division commander followed Rommel's strategy to place more troops on the beach zones. What if one extra German infantry battalion or regiment had been defending the landing zones, would the US troops been able to move inland? What if one panzer regiment was in proximity to counterattack the first day?

The author then writes of the deadly fighting in the hedgerows in trying to capture St. Lo. This becomes a very sobering point. The author notes that the 29th Infantry Division spent 8 weeks in Normandy, and took in 15,000 replacements to maintain the fighting strength of the 14,000 soldier Division.

The 82nd Airborne Division (approx. 8500 troops) spent 4 weeks in Normandy and took approx, 45% casualties (according to official records). Quite the comparison in roles and casualties suffered when not being able to pulled from the front line to receive and integrate replacements. The similar is described in The Battle for the Hurtgen Forest (Charles MacDonald) where the US took 28,000 casualties in series of deadly infantry attacks in a deep forest that reduced whole US Infantry Divisions, including the 1st and 28th.

In the Band of Brother (Ambrose) Easy Company spent years training, as did the 29th Infantry Div, jumped into Normandy, and was pulled off the fighting line to refit while the Infantry Divisions fought straight on. Ambrose considers that Easy Company was the best in Europe in late 1944. But when one compares Easy Company (part of the 101st Airborne Division) to those in the 29th Infantry as described in this book, the 29th had it much harder trying to maintain its proficiency and effectiveness due to the time spent in the front lines. Easy company was also more fortunate not to have been a landing boat in the 1st wave into Omaha where entire companies were lost or reduced to a handful of soldiers.

One note the author makes is the different leadership styles of the commanders along with the differences and initial bias against the Reserve and National Guard officers by the active duty, West Point graduate, Division Commander. Once the campaign wore on, several ineffective active duty officers were replaced, sometimes by National Guard officers. The point of the matter, where a person gains their commission is not important as to how a person performs their role and successfully accomplishes the mission while caring for their troops. Note: Colin Powell is an ROTC graduate and achieved success based on his performance, not on where he received his commission.

Good book and different perspective that is balanced and offers good comparisons on the combatants involved.

I could not put this book down. I can never read enough about the Normandy Invasion. Out of all the titles, I liked this one the best (sorry Mr Ambrose), it tells the story of the "Blue and Gray" division, as well as the bloody assault on Omaha Beach. It breaks down the formation of a US infantry division in great detail. Detail, is also the best word to describe the way Balkoski re creates one of the most heroic days in US Military history. If you have a tatse for Normandy books, read this last, all the rest will not measure up after.

At the onset of World War II, men and machines were ill prepared to fight in an overseas campaign against the Axis powers. Yet, the 29th, rose up from a National Guard unit, to a unit representing states all across our great land. Officers were replaced and men were shuffled in and out of duty until the proper man was found for the job.

Men such as General Cota, took it upon themselves to lead charges off the beach and into a hail of bullets. As he leaped and dashed across the road, he yelled for others to follow his example. In doing so his bravery trickled down to the lowest private in line and moved them off the beach! Cota's story and many others truly complete this book.

"Beyond the Beachhead" was hard to put down. In describing the maintaining of spotless jeeps to the specifcs and rigors of training to 20 July 1944, when the 35th Division took over for the 29th for a well deserved eight-day rest; Mr. Balkoski's attention to detail takes you to the point of actually smelling spent powder from the bangalore torpedos as they exploded under the wire.

This book is a must for anyone interested in World War II history, and goes far towards revealing what happened, not only on the beach, but beyond! Thank you Mr. Balkoski for all your time and effort, it's been wonderful reading!

Of the scores of WWII histories I have read, this book has got to be in the top 3 (with Burgetts '7 roads' and Macdonalds 'Company Commander'). It traces the history of the 29th Division (including the Stonewallers of Civil War fame) from training, across the bullet infested beaches of Omaha, to the horrors of the Norman Bocage. It gives a day by day account of the drive for St.Lo that shows WWII combat at its worst. For once I have even found a book that has good maps!

But there is much more than combat recorded here. Like 'The Deadly Brotherhood', this book takes time to describe some of the elementary parts of warfare such as equipment comparisons with the Germans, communication techniques, and infantry tactics unique to Normandy. And it describes these in an extremely interesting manner. So interesting that, despite being very busy I finished it in under a week.

Overall, for a great history of the Normandy campaign and a grisly picture of WWII combat, this book can't be beat!

Activated National Guard Units, the 29 Div., landed on Omaha Beach along with the 1st Div. on D-Day. There they faced 120-foot high cliffs directly beyond the murderous beach. The quickest way off the beach was through the Verville and Les Moulins draws. Those familiar with "The Longest Day" or "Private Ryan" know what happened on that beachhead and on those draws. To read about it is particularly chilling. The 29th was not stopped that day. They clawed their way up those bluffs into Verville-sur-Mer and St. Laurent, on inland to the Aure River and, after 43 days of continuous combat, they took St. Lo. Balkoski provides a vivid account of the fighting beyond the beachhead, in the hedgerow country. I read this book after visiting the beaches at Normandy. I should have read it before that visit. The maps of Omaha Beach are excellent and the action is told in an interesting and fast moving style.

In the past few years several works have emerged about the 29th Infantry division and several memoirs of its veterans have also emerged. (Bedford Boys, No Greater Sacrifice- No Greater Love,Fragments of My Life) For those who don't know two regiments of the 29th, the 115th & 116th landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. (The 116th suffered over one thousand casualties on June 6th). The 29th then fought for St. Lo, one of the bloodiest battles of the ETO. This book should be the starting point for those who want to know the story. The Author who just published a new book titled Omaha Beach, really knows his stuff. This kind of military history fills an important niche for those who want more than Ambrose and Cornelius Ryan but who are not quite up to official Army history ('The Green Books'). My Thanks to the author.

I had read many books on D-Day as my hometown of Bedford, VA suffered the most KIA's that day (per capita) of any location in the U.S. A/116th Infantry. I am an Officer in the Maryland National Guard and the 29th and its history are still studied today. This book takes you into the 29th just prior to W.W. II, explains how the national guard officers were replaced with West Pointers, how nearly half the troops were "recycled" and how the remainder was filled from all over the country. It strips the myth of the 29th being a national guard unit per say. It details the years of training prior to the invasion, how the 29th's troops trained like they were already in the fight all the while they were in England. It details the equipment they used such as the M-1 which ultimately proved vastly inferior in fire suppression when faced with similar sized German units with two MG-42's light machine guns. It provides the foot-soldier details that so many books fail to touch upon!

Joseph Balkoski does an admirable job of telling the story of the "29ers" of the "Blue & Gray" division. The shock of first combat upon green American troops and how they learned to fight is vividly told by the author. It shows how American troops waded ashore at "Bloody Omaha" then attempted to adapt to the unique Norman environment (the bocage) while fighting an extremely effective and professional German army. The book is well written, has decent maps, and good photos showing the bocage country most of the battles were fought in.

It is also the story of the biases of the regular army toward the National Guard: Guard officers passed over for higher rank, refusal to elevate Guardsmen to higher command when company and battalion commanders are killed or wounded, and the attitude of the division's regular army commander. Unfortunately, this attitude lasts even today.

One notices a complete absence of expressions of fondness or admiration for Gen. Gerhardt by men of the 29th division while at the same time the reader comes to the obvious conclusion that he was a martinet who simply wanted to be feared by his subordinates. To his credit, Joseph Boskoski reveals Maj. Gen. Charles Gerhardt honestly. One quickly notices that Gen. Gerhardt never talked to his subordinates - he screamed at them, he berated them, he cursed them, and he growled at them.

If one reads carefully, one may detect another story that the author does not intentionally bring to light: the intellectual poverty of American military leadership (especially at higher levels) who, all too often, could think of nothing else but repeated, costly frontal assaults even when it became all too clear that the result would be heavy casualties without any appreciable gains. Gerhardt is often qouted angrily screaming "Let's keep pushing", "We're going to get to that objective or else", "Keep pushing them", "The best defense I know of is to attack", and "Expend the whole battalion if necessary, but it's got to get there" even after units take as high as 60% casualties. The story of American arms in Normandy (not just the 29ers) is one of grinding combat units down in attrition warfare where we finally win because the Allies have more cannon fodder to expend than do the Germans. The battle of the Hurtgen Forest later in the war shows that American commanders didn't learn from the carnage in Normandy.

My only disappointment in the book is the author's defense of an American replacement system by proclaiming it "...superior to the German model in many ways." It is if one accepts the premise that Allied strategy was the best way to defeat Germany: "This strategy was based on the premise that applying continuous and overwhelming military force against the enemy's major ground forces was the surest and quickest path to victory." It is purely attritional warfare when it is acceptable if the enemy kills more of your young men than you do his because you can mobilize more to lose than he can. I don't consider treating your own country's young men like cannon fodder a very good strategy.

After reading this book, one is left with a deep respect for the young Americans in the rifle squads who went forward each day, killing and being killed, knowing their chances of survival were low. That the American army performed as well as it did in WWII is a tribute to the courage and tenacity of the guys at the "sharp end of the stick."

What can be said that hasn't already been said about this great book?

Joseph Balkoski has crafted (to me, not just written, but crafted like a gem) a superb history which will stand as a tribute to all those who not only served in the Blue and Gray Division, but to all who served in the infantry divisions in the Normandy campaign.

We see the 29ers from their training camps in Maryland and Virginia, to deployment in England, to Omaha Beach to the bloody, but triumphant entry into St. Lo. Along the way, we see the personalities, General Gehrhardt, Major Tom Howie, Glover Johns and Charles Cawthon endure the training, D-Day and the hedgerow slaughter.

But Balkoski just doesn't rehash old facts. He compares the 29th to its German counterpart, the 352nd Infanterie Division. He shows German methods and compares the weapons used by both sides and explains why the fighting in Normandy was an attacker's nightmare and a defender's dream.

In the end, the 29ers bested their foemen, but not without cost. Mr. Balkoski has written a tribute to them that will stand the test of time.

I am a reenactor with the 29th ID, and this book is almost a bible to us. The info contained within the book is an excellent narrative of the struggle through the bocage. However, Balkoski also provides a great amount of background information, both about the 29th and their adversaries of the 352nd ID. I would reccomend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the fight for Normandy, and the men who did the fighting.

29, Lets Go!