Fighting the Breakout

'Fascinating and essential stuff.'

Gary Sheffield in Military Illustrated This gripping volume charts the progress of the Allied breakout of Normandy through German eyes. Beginning with Operation COBRA and ending with the offensive which led to the liberation of Paris, this critical phase of the war in the west is examined and described by five senior German officers. From staff officers at OKW to divisional generals on the ground, these officers critique their performance, examine Allied superiority, and evaluate their own efforts to contain Allied forces in Normandy. They look at such key events as the counterattack at Mortain, the American offensive, British and Canadian efforts and the sequence of events that led to the fighting around the Falaise gap. The officers originally submitted the reports presented here to Allied intelligence during postwar debriefing sessions. This volume brings together a selection of these reports to provide a broad overview of German hopes balanced with the realization that they could not hope to contain the Allied efforts for long. With supplementary material by David C. Isby, this is a fascinating glimpse into how a defeated army sought hard to turn the tide of defeat.