Decision in Normandy: The Real Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign

579 Pages·2015·7.74 MB·English

by  d'Este

Carlo D’Este

DECISION IN NORMANDY
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Introduction
PART I: The Great Endeavour
1 The Origins of the Second Front
2 Second Front, North Africa
3 The Birth of Operation Overlord
4 The Overlord Commanders
5 A Time for Decision
6 The Master Plan
PART II: Invasion
7 D-Day: The Invasion of France
8 D-Day: The Orne Bridgehead
9 The Field of Battle
10 Caen: The Search for a Strategy
11 Villers-Bocage
12 Ends and Means
13 The Air Chiefs
14 Epsom: The Battle for the Odon
15 The Manpower Dilemma
16 The Price of Caution
17 Caen: Too Little, Too Late
18 D+30: Stalemate
PART III: Breakout
19 Planning the Breakthrough
20 Operation Goodwood
21 Into the Cauldron
22 The Furore over Goodwood
23 Cobra
24 Turning the Corner at Avranches
25 The Great Encirclement
PART IV: Aftermath
26 The Falaise Controversy
27 The Legacy of Normandy
28 The Normandy Myth
Epilogue
Illustrations
Postscript
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Sources
Acknowledgements
Follow Penguin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lt Col. Carlo D’Este retired from the US army in 1978 to write full time. His
books include Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily 1943, Patton: A Genius for
War, World War II in the Mediterranean 1942–1945, and Eisenhower: Allied
Supreme Commander. He is currently writing a military biography of Churchill,
Warlord, which will be published by Allen Lane.
In loving memory of my parents
Charles and Eleanor D’Este
and
in remembrance of the American, British, Canadian,
Polish, Belgian, Dutch and French soldiers, sailors and
airmen who fought and died to liberate France
PENGUIN BOOKS
DECISION IN NORMANDY
‘Decision in Normandy will appeal to military buffs. But it should also appeal to
all who ponder how intelligent men, well trained in the military sense, act under
the terrible pressures of war. This is not only the story of a campaign; it is a
picture of the military mind in action that should be fixed in our memories’
Drew Middleton, The New York Times Book Review
‘Splendid … a “must” book about Normandy’ General James M. Gavin ‘A
serious, informed attempt to strip away mythology and find out what was
actually intended and what then occurred … of profound importance’ John
Terraine, Daily Telegraph
‘D’Este now becomes the standard work on the campaign’ Martin Walker,
Guardian
‘A fine, balanced account’ Sunday Times
‘This book will keep historians arguing for a decade’ Nigel Hamilton
List of Illustrations
Allied bombing of the French rail network (National Archives)
Air Chief Marshal Tedder (Imperial War Museum)
Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory (Imperial War Museum)
The map illustrating Montgomery’s basic strategy (Public Record Office)
The D-Day landings (Imperial War Museum)

Caen and the steelworks at Colombelles (Imperial War Museum)
Field Marshal Rommel, inspecting the 21st Panzer Division (courtesy of Manfred Rommel)
British engineers clearing Tilly-sur-Seulles (Imperial War Museum)
Churchill and Montgomery (Imperial War Museum)
Montgomery and Field Marshal Brooke (Imperial War Museum)
Caen (Imperial War Museum)
British troops pinned down near Caen (Imperial War Museum)
American troops in the bocage (National Archives)
Eisenhower with Major General Collins and Lieutenant General Bradley (National Archives)

British vehicles and armour crossing the Orne (Imperial War Museum)
American troops at St Lô (National Archives)
Lieutenant General Patton (National Archives)
Lieutenant General Dempsey with Montgomery and Bradley (Imperial War Museum)
American troops moving on Mortain (National Archives)
Part of the carnage of the Falaise Gap (Imperial War Museum)
German prisoners-of-war from the Argentan-Falaise pocket (National Archives)
Jerusalem Cemetery (Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
List of Maps
The Normandy Battlefield
Forecast of Operations, D+17 to D+90
The Orne Bridgehead
Situation map, 10 June 1944
Villers-Bocage
Situation map, 17 June 1944
EPSOM: The Odon Battlefield
Situation map, 30 June 1944
Situation map, 9 July 1944
Operation GOODWOOD
The Allied Breakout