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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Summary of the Great Breakout, October 16, 2001
This review is from: Operation Cobra 1944: Breakout from Normandy (Campaign) (Paperback)
There are certain authors that readers can trust to deliver excellent military history, and Steven J Zaloga is one of them. In his latest title for Osprey, Zaloga covers the American-led breakout from the Normandy bridgehead in July-August 1944 that sent Hitler's armies reeling back across France. While Zaloga has done a good job summarizing the main points of Martin Blumenson's authoritative official history of Operation Cobra, he has provided additional value by including input from more recent scholarship on specific facets of the campaign, such as the impact of tactical air power. In accordance with the Osprey Campaign series format, the book starts with a section on the background to the campaign and includes a campaign chronology. Zaloga provides good insight into the debilitated state of the Wehrmacht units and the rising competence of US units in the section on opposing forces. The section on opposing commanders is adequate, but French General Leclerc who made a contribution in the campaign is omitted, while non-involved characters such as Montgomery are included. On the German side, Panzer Lehr's Fritz Bayerlein should also have been included. The section on opposing plans is adequate but more mention of how ULTRA shaped Allied planning should have been included. The order of battle is a bit skimpy because it only addresses division-size units from both sides that participated in the initial phase of Cobra; American non-divisional assets such as independent tank, tank destroyer and artillery units should have been added. Nevertheless, Zaloga succeeds in providing fresh insights into material that is well worn, if not always well covered. Certainly he makes good points on Allied superiority in communications and logistics which are not viewed as "sexy" by some armchair historians who prefer to stress comparative tank statistics and such. The maps are quite good in this volume. There are five 2-D maps, depicting: the theater situation on 24 July 1944, the plan for Cobra, the breakthrough on 25-30 July, the race through Brittany and the pursuit to the Seine. Unfortunately, there were no 2-D maps of the Mortain counterattack or the Falaise pocket. There are only two 3-D Birds-eye-view maps in this volume: the carpet-bombing of the Panzer Lehr Division and the Mortain counterattack (which is too small and difficult to understand). There are three excellent battle scenes: the carpet bombing of Panzer Lehr, US tanks in the breakout and Panther tanks in the Mortain counterattack. The photographs provided are also excellent, particularly if one enjoys viewing destroyed German vehicles and their dead occupants (there are no photographs of US casualties). Overall, the text is cleanly-written and the campaign narrative fits well together. Zaloga also makes a good connection between Operation Cobra's breakout and the landings in southern France; often Operation Dragoon gets short shrift in the Normandy saga, but Zaloga effectively points out the inherent linkage between the campaigns and how it precipitated the German collapse in the West. Zaloga has marshaled the available facts well and there is little controversy in this book, although there are a few issues open to some debate. First, the actual effect of Allied airpower on the campaign was clearly significant but difficult to quantify. Zaloga seems to lean toward accepting all or most Allied claims for destruction of German vehicles, whereas some new research suggests the direct losses were not as large. Zaloga also accepts claims that most of the German divisions retreating from Normandy were "virtually destroyed," when this usually only refers to the combat elements. In each case, Zaloga might have advised the reader that other sources disagree with the extent of damage to German units. Another issue concerns the culpability for the defeat on the German side; Zaloga places most of the blame squarely on SS General Paul Hausser for poorly deploying his units and then making a hash of the withdrawal. Field Marshal von Kluge and the rest of the German leadership - aside from Hitler - appear almost blameless. This interpretation looks like the creation of an SS scapegoat by Wehrmacht officers, particularly given that Operation Cobra occurred only five days after the failed plot to kill Hitler. While Hausser's leadership of 7th Army was probably not the greatest, the German defeat in Operation Cobra was not due only (or mostly) to his mistakes. Additionally, the lack of any information on US losses in the campaign also appears to deprive this account of some balance. There is also one mistake in the text, when Zaloga states that, "the 2nd SS Panzer Division commander was killed by a US patrol near his command post." In fact, Heinz Lammerding, commander of "Das Reich," was wounded in late July but returned to duty later in the year. Aside from these points, this is a fine summary volume.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Breakout From Normandy, July 2, 2009
The Allies, for most of June and July, had fought a punishing battle of attrition without making a lot of progress in Normandy. Bocage country was especially terrible for the Americans. General Bradley and his staff could not let this costly stalemate continue and thought up Operation Cobra to break the stalemate.
I've always considered that for many authors writing a book with a 96 page limit could be difficult; this is one such example. I suggest that additional coverage could have been mentioned but the author has done a great job of writing this story under the limitation.
This book has the traditional Osprey format of WWII books; the brief introduction of stating the strategic situation and the competent two page chronology is good in setting up the story that follows.
The commanders are well represented. For the Germans Kluge, Rommel, Blaskkowitz and Hausser are presented. For the Allies Patton, Collins, Middleton, Bradley and indirectly Eisenhower and Montgomery. Following the commanders, a 14 page description of opposing forces was excellent, covering all the units involved in the operation as well as an abbreviated Order of Battle which included four American Corps and two German Corps. The description of the Allied offensive and the German defensive plans were also good and by this time the reader will have a good understanding of Operation Cobra. The actual offensive is then discussed. This is one of the reasons I like this book for Mr Zaloga spends 56 pages on telling the important campaign that opened the Normandy beachhead and sent our troops to liberating Paris. He does a very good job of describing the action.
It begins with the inauspicious bombing tragedy that inflicted 150 casualties on 30th ID and continues with the break through of the German line, the startup of Patton's 3rd Army and the move into Brittany, Mortain, Falaise and the race to the Seine River culminating in the liberation of Paris on August 25th. Prior to Operation Cobra, the author covers the capture of St Lo, showing the importance of taking this critical road junction as a prerequisite for launching Cobra. There is also commentary on the struggle Montgomery was having in the Caen sector with his different operations.
The maps are also good. They're the traditional color maps but they're populated with many cities and villages as well as the unit symbols facing each other. There are five 2 dimensional maps and two 3 dimensional maps. The 2-D maps cover: the Allied line on July 25th, the Cobra plan, the Cobra Breakthrough, Briton Ports and reaching the Seine. These two page 3-D maps are especially helpful for the key battle areas are not placed in the crease where you can't read the details. The map of the counterattack at Mortain is busy but with careful study, can be followed.
Besides the maps, there is a wealth of good photos, especially of tanks but that should not be surprising. There are also three 2-page color illustrations that are interesting.
With so much coverage of the operation, there wasn't room for "Retrospect" but Mr Zaloga does making some closing remarks as he finishes up his commentary on reaching Paris.
The book closes with "Further Reading" and a Index.
If you have an interest in Normandy and the breakout, this book is certainly worth reading. The author has also written "D-Day", "Lorraine 1944", "Battle of the Bulge" and "Remagen 1945" which are worthy sequels.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Normandy Breakout, August 19, 2006
This review is from: Operation Cobra 1944: Breakout from Normandy (Campaign) (Paperback)
A damn fine addition to my Osprey Campaign collection.I also purchased Lorraine 1944 by Osprey as both are collaborations by Zaloga and Bryan on the same theatre and compliment each other brilliantly.A must have for anyone wanting to know about the Normandy Campaigns of 1944.
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