D-Day 1944: Gold & Juno Beaches (Praeger Illustrated Military History) [Hardcover]

Ken Ford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 027598267X | ISBN-13: 978-0275982676 | Publication Date: February 2004

Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, was the greatest sea-borne military operation in history. At the heart of the invasion and key to its success were the landings of British 50th Division on Gold Beach and Canadian 3rd Division on Juno Beach. Not only did they provide the vital link between the landings of British 3rd Division on Sword Beach and the Americans to the west on Omaha, they would be crucial to the securing of the beachhead and the drive inland to Bayeux and Caen. In the fourth D-Day volume Ken Ford details the assault that began the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe. The Beaches codenamed Gold and Juno constituted the western section of the British sector of the landings. Although in the British sector the forces landing on Juno were actually the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. Gold was to be assaulted by the British 50th infantry division. Both these forces were supported by specialized armored vehicles to help overcome the German defenses, and by Commando units. The D-Day objectives for the troops landing on these two beaches included the capture of the town of Arromanches, which was to be the site of the Mulberry artificial harbor for the British beachhead. They were also tasked with the capture of the town of Bayeux and securing the coast road between Bayeux and Caen. British 50th Division supported by 8th Armored Brigade successfully fought their way off the beach and overcame the German strongpoints at Le Hamel and La Riviere. 47 Commando made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Port en Bessin and link up with the Americans on Omaha. The Canadians on Juno meanwhile had a tougher time getting ashore due to heavy seas and underwater obstacles. Once onthe beach however they silenced the German strongpoint at St. Aubin and pushed inland towards Caen. They were halted by the counter-attack of General Edgar Feuchtingers battle group, the 21st Panzer Division. This drove into the gap between Juno and Sword beaches, stalling the allied timetable and preventing the capture of Caen. It could not, however, prevent the linking of Gold, Juno, and Sword on June 7, securing the British beachhead. The breakout could now begin.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly visual guides to history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics, and experiences of the opposing forces throughout each campaign, and concluding with a guide to the battlefields today. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Ken Ford was born in Hampshire in 1943. He trained as an engineer and spent almost thirty years in the telecommunications industry. He now spends his time as an author and a bookseller specialising in military history. He has written a number of books on various Second World War subjects. Ken now lives in Southampton. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 027598267X
• ISBN-13: 978-0275982676
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #537,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Decent Summary, December 9, 2002

By 

R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: D-Day 1944 (4) Gold & Juno Beaches (Paperback)

This is the second volume in the Osprey Campaign series' detailed examination of the D-Day landings. In this tightly packaged volume, author Ken Ford offers considerable detail on the less well-known British and Canadian landings on Gold and Juno beaches on 6 June 1944. Overall, the volume provides a decent campaign narrative combined with a high graphic quality in terms of maps and photographs. This volume is not quite as good as the first volume in this series, which covered the landing on Sword Beach, and this may cause some readers apprehension as to what to expect from the remaining two volumes on D-Day.

Gold & Juno Beaches begins in standard Osprey format with short sections on the origin of the battle, a campaign chronology, opposing leaders, opposing armies and opposing plans. The author provides five 2-D maps (German defenses on Gold and Juno Beaches, Allied landings on Gold and Juno, and the situation at midnight on D-Day) and three 3-D "Bird's Eye View" maps (the British 69th Brigade landing on Gold, the Canadian 3rd Brigade landing on Juno, and the Battle of Villers-Bocage). The two very detailed maps of the German defenses are particularly useful and interesting. Three battle scenes are included: HMS Ajax bombarding the German defenses, the landing on Gold and the German evacuation of Ardenne Abbey on 8 June). The author provides 28 pages on the Gold landings, 22 pages on Juno and ten pages on the week after the landings. A detailed order of battle for both sides is also provided. The bibliography is overly succinct and includes several out-dated books on the subject while ignoring several more recent and worthwhile books, such as Robert Kershaw's Piercing the Atlantic Wall.

The author displays a bit of a jingoistic tone in this volume, beginning with his suggestion that the Allied units had "sky-high" morale and superb training, whereas the German defenders lacked these attributes. Certainly any comparison of units like the veteran British 50th Division against the third-string German 716th Coastal Infantry Division will find the defenders at a qualitative and quantitative disadvantage. However, Ford glosses over the fact that most German units were liberally sprinkled with combat veterans and only the static units were lower in morale and tactical competence. The panzer, panzer grenadier and mobile infantry in reserve were certainly equal to the British units in tactical competence, and possessed solid, reliable equipment. Furthermore, the author tends to denigrate the performance of the 716th Division on D-Day, yet this weak unit managed to delay five Allied divisions for the bulk of the day and fulfilled its intended role. Ford's description of the collapse of the German "crust" defense around mid-day on D-Day as a rout does not ring true, since if it was a rout why did the British and Canadians fail to reach their D-Day objectives? It was not the failure of the coastal defense units - which were always viewed as expendable - but the failure to promptly deploy mobile reserves that ultimately compromised the German Atlantic Wall.

Ford's discussion of the landings is decent, but there is not much analysis. For example, the British landed very little infantry in the first assault waves and relied on armored engineering vehicles to breach the main obstacle belt, which was the exact opposite of the American methods employed on Omaha and Utah. The British methods were highly successful and kept their losses at an acceptable level. Ford also really only addresses the assault waves and spends little effort discussing the follow-up forces and the development of the beachheads. Nevertheless, readers can easily follow the action using this volume's text and maps.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Basic introduction to the beaches, May 23, 2009

By 

Yoda (Hadera, Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: D-Day 1944 (4) Gold & Juno Beaches (Paperback)

This book provides a basic short overview of its topic for those with only an hour to an hour and a half to spare. It's one main weakness is that it lacks detail regarding how this part of the beach fit into the larger context of the Normandy landings (why land here instead of elsewhere? What was specific goal of landing here?). It does succeed at providing a basic and succint history of how the battle developed. Nothing new or innovative in terms of what has not been published before however.

The book also has excellent detailed maps of each of the specific major sub-sections of the beaches. These contain German strong points, bombardment schemes and troop movements with geographic detail. Book also has fairly good contemporary B&W photos (though these could have been better) along with some modern color photos. The one area, in terms of illustration, that the book is weak on is the lack of color plates regarding major equipment used and how "typical" troops from both sides looked like. Hence for the modeler, figurine builder or illustrater of very limited value. For anyone interested in a basic introduction, however, not bad.