Tank and AFV News

Earlier this month Casemate publishing released a new book by Stephen Napier titled “The Armored Campaign in Normandy.” This is a hardcover book of 384 pages. As far as we can tell, this is Mr. Napier’s first book on the topic of WW2 armor history. Based on the publishers description, this book casts a rather critical eye on both Allied leadership and Allied armor in the Normandy campaign, focusing on operations Epsom, Goodwood, Cobra and Totalize. Expect to see a review of this book here next month, we are curious to see how this book compares to John Buckley’s 2004 book “British Armour in the Normandy Campaign.”

Publishers Description:

Beginning with the D-day landings, this is a brutally frank appraisal of the planned use and actual results of the deployment of armour by both German and Allied commanders in the major tank battles of the Normandy campaign including operations Epsom, Goodwood, Cobra and Totalize. The Armoured Campaign in Normandy is a critique of Montgomery’s plans to seize territory and break out and describes how they failed in the face of German resistance. It details the poor planning and mistakes of British senior commanders and how the German Army’s convoluted chain of command contributed to their own defeat; these were decisions taken which cost the lives of the tank crews of both sides ordered to carry them out. Official reports, war diaries, after action reports, letters, regimental histories, memoirs of generals and recollections of tank men are used to tell the inside story of the campaign from an armour point of view to give a different but detailed perspective of the Normandy campaign from the men who fought in it.