Well, I got paid a little commission this month, so had the luxury of being able to buy this book today as soon as I saw a copy in London's 'Motor Books'....
'Ruckmarsche ! The German Retreat From Normandy - Then & Now' by Jean-Paul Pallud ( ATB, ISBN 9 781870 067577 ).
If you are a Pallud aficianado, you'll know what to expect. The book is produced to the usual high ATB standards and has taken JPP five years to collate.It's virtually a companion volume to
'Panzers In Normandy - Then & Now' and takes the story from the Falaise Gap to Joe's Bridge, even finding time and space for a visit to the scene of Wittmann's last action and a revisit to the Vimoutiers Tiger, an old ATB favourite.
Being a Falaise buff, I'm glad to see ATB returning to the battlefield with an update which comprises the first section of this book, with some photos new to me including one of Moissy Ford. The book contains hundred of superb-quality photos ; many sequences have previously been published by Heimdal and in 'Armes et Militaria' magazine but will be unfamiliar to English-speaking readers. Much of the book focusses understandably on the Seine crossings and there are splendid photo sequences from German PK photographers. As usual with ATB, it's fun to find some familiar photos finally identified, having been mis-captioned ever since 1944. The 'Then & Now' format never fails to fascinate me, as it has since the very first ATB in 1974 (
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The 'Battle After Normandy' has been poorly-covered by historians and this book helps to redress the balance. The photographic gems here will provide me with weeks of browsing and I know that my copy will inevitably accompany me ( to the horror of my wife ! ) when we next return to France.
Highly recommended ! [img]graemlins/salute.gif[/img]