by Joseph Balkoski
|
| List Price: | $27.95 |
| Amazon Price: | $20.40 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: | $7.55 (27%) |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $12.48 |
| Availablitiy: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
 |
|
Product Description
In this highly anticipated sequel to his acclaimed Beyond the Beachhead, World War II historian Joseph Balkoski follows the U.S. 29th Infantry Division out of Normandy and into Brittany in the northwest corner of France, where the division was tasked with seizing the port of Brest. The Germans, including elite paratroopers, fought fiercely for every inch of ground and inflicted heavy casualties on the Americans during bloody house-to-house fighting. By the time the German defenders surrendered, the Allies had taken other ports, thus rendering Brest nearly useless and casting controversy on the decision to capture it in the first place. Balkoski tells the story of the battle, from the generals who ordered the attack to the infantrymen who slogged through the streets of Brest.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Average Customer Review:
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Forgotten Campaign by Command Unit Historian, 2008-10-21
No recent historian is more qualified to document the combat history of the 29th Infantry Division in World War II than Joseph Balkoski. As Command Historian of the Maryland National Guard, his prior effort, _Beyond The Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy_ (1989) is considered by many as a classic account of that division's actions on D-Day through the bitter struggle for St. Lo. His office, the Fifth Regiment Armory Building in Baltimore, Maryland houses every conceivable primary source relating to the 29th Division in World War II. His recent D-Day contributions: _Utah Beach:_ and _Omaha Beach:_ which rely heavily upon oral history testimonies of veterans of all ranks have been well received. His latest release, _Beachhead to Brittany_ by Stackpole Books follows many of the same stylistic formats as his previous books, which tends to dull the historical labors of its author, a point that will be explained further.
Anyone interested in the post D-Day campaigns in Northwest Europe during World War II cannot ignore this work. Only one other author in recent memory, Jonathan Gawne, has tackled the Brittany Campaign (see my review of _1944 Americans in Brittany: The Battle of Brest_). Anyone interested in the 29th Division or who had a relative serve in this outstanding unit also cannot ignore this book. The significance of this book cannot be over stressed.
In his Preface, Balkoski admits this narrative tells of the liberation of the French port of Brest "from the perspective of the 29th Infantry Division." At times, the author unwittingly places the 29ers in a vacuum, and gives the sense that the 29th Division faced not only the brunt of the forty-four day struggle, but that its commander, Major General Charles H. Gerhardt was instrumental in many of the major command decisions of the entire campaign. Balkoski handles the cooperation of the 29ers with attached units such as the 5th and 2d Ranger Battalions, and even a British Tank regiment of Crocodile flame thrower tanks admirably, but bogs down a bit conveying how Gerhardt, and his division fits into the overall scheme of this complex campaign. Likewise, some of his concluding analysis of the overall controversy of why Brest was ultimately abandoned after capture could have been placed in a more detailed Introduction to better prepare his readers. These minor flaws pale in comparison to Balkoski's masterful compelling combat narrative that flows evenly from the division War Room tent to the squad's foxhole. It's obvious the author's heart is close to this division, and as with _Beyond the Beachhead_, does his subject justice.
This reviewer firmly believes that an historian/author and his/her publisher should work together as a team. Either the publishing house Balkoski has loyally chosen for the past two decades is not holding up its end, or Balkoski has simply outgrown them. Twenty years ago when I first read _Beyond the Beachhead_, I was not very concerned with historical methods. Thumbing through footnoted sources to see where an historian culled his facts and information did not interest me as much as a compelling read. That has changed. Balkoski surely can deliver a compelling read, but his methods need a major overhaul. Choosing to incorporate a confusing citation format of bold print and half italicized fragments in all his published works rather than the numbered Chicago style only lessens the author's credibility as a serious military historian. Known for his use of simplified maps since _Beachhead:_, recent computer generated maps have become dumbed down to a fault. Even something as petty as numbered sub-headings (eliminated in _Utah:_ and _Omaha:_ but back again in _Brittany_) should be red-penned out by an alert editor. If a publisher does not take history seriously enough to insist upon some basic house-cleaning it's time Balkoski dumps this publisher. Encouraged to utilize more stringent academic historical methods, Balkoski will undoubtedly take his well deserved place among today's best military historians.
The significance of _Beachhead to Brittany_ far outweighs its stylistic flaws, and warrants a strong recommendation with four-stars.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Good divisional history, if a bit stilted, 2008-10-03
Joe Balkoski is famous in wargaming circles as one of the more successful designers of the last 20 or so years. As a sideline to that, he's been writing books on the Second World War. I assume that he became interested in the 29th Infantry Division because it was a National Guard formation drawn from units from the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. National Guards, but I don't really know. His first book in this series, Beyond the Beachhead, is a very good, very detailed history of that division during the Normandy campaign. This latest book covers the division as it fights in the siege of Brest, the Brittany port which was originally thought to be crucial to the supply of the Allied troops in France. Eventually, after its capture, the SHAEF decided the port was too far from the front and pretty well wrecked by the Germans, and wound up instead relying on other ports, less damaged by the enemy or closer to the front.
Balkoski is best at discussing the tactical operations of a division in close contact with the enemy. He gives you little context for what's going on with the division. There were three divisions involved in the siege of Brest (the other two being the 2nd and 8th Divisions) and he spends almost no time with them until the end of the book. The larger course of the war in France is touched on only very briefly. Instead, the whole of the book is focused, for the most part, on the fighting men of the 29th Division: companies, and sometimes even platoons, are discussed, with fighting in hedgerows depressingly similar to those in Normandy discussed in careful detail. That part of the book is very well-done.
Balkoski is also rather unsparing with the commander of the division, General Charles Gerhardt. He comes across as a martinet, annoyingly obsessed with details and sometimes a bit of a blowhard. I found this section of the book somewhat interesting, as usually books of this sort only have good things to say about the division commanders they profile.
Balkoski's prose is pretty stilted and over-descriptive. Cornelius Ryan he is not. That being said, this is still an interesting, informative book, and I enjoyed it.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 For WWII Vets and Their Offspring--Learn About Brest , 2008-09-07
I gave this as a birthday present to my friend, Spero,84,a D-Day veteran who landed on Omaha Beach with the 29th Division and was also in the battles in Brest. He came back to NJ in 1945 without his buddy Francis and without his hearing. He told me about how severe the fighting was in Brest and that no one had really told the story in detail--the attention was on D-Day. Well, now there's a good book about Brest, Spero. And for our Band of Brothers be they with us or gone, here is another documentation of the soldiers of the 29th at Brest.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
At last, part two!, 2008-07-26
I am elated that after a nine year interlude, Joseph Balkoski has continued the story of the 29th Infantry Division. Beachhead to Brittany covers the 29th's role in the battle for Brest, August - September 1944. This book, like his first on the Division, is scholarly, yet engaging; full of combat facts yet peppered with stories and perspectives guaranteed to elicit fear, frustration, chuckles and tears.
My father served with the 29th, so I am hungry to know all I can about his service experience. With the exception of Joseph Ewing's official history of the Division published in 1947, everything written about the 29th has focused on the Normandy campaign. Now, unlike Ewing's white-washed, official military history, Balkoski delivers a thorough and objective story of the 29th's role in the capture of Brest, the men who led the battle and the circumstances that resulted in the Blue and Gray suffering thousands of casualties, including 700 dead, to capture a harbor that was never used by the Allies. He also includes information about the combat engineers--something that thrills me, as my father was part of the 121st Combat Engineer Battalion.
For anyone interested in the WWII European Theater and especially the 29th Infantry, this book is a must-read. Joseph Balkoski is the one of the world's leading authorities on the Division, and I have a deep appreciation for his ability to create a cohesive and readily understandable story from a vast and diverse number of primary sources and soldier recollections. I eagerly await volume three.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
a near forgotten battle, 2008-07-05
The Brittany Campaign has been one of the least written about and understood actions in WW2. In this book Balkoski continues to track the 29th Infantry Division from his classic book on d-day (Beyond the Beach head) from Normandy up to their move to Holland - covering their actions at Brest. No one is better suited to tell this story, as no one knows the 29th Division like Balkoski who has studied that unit all his life.
I have personally talked to a number of veterans of both the Normandy and Brittany fights, and to a man they all said Brittany was tougher. Partially because the Germans had nowhere to go, partially because many were well trained German paratroops, and partially because the defense was commanded by General Ramcke (who is arguably one of the more interesting German Generals of the war) who told his men that every shell used on them in Brittany was one less that would fall on Germany.
This book focuses on the 29th Division, as it should, and like his other books is very well done. Material on the Ranger Battalions is included as they fought under 29th command but little is covered of the other divisions talking part. The combat outside (and inside) the city was brutal; with events happening that put some of the more popular movies and TV shows to shame.
I think the entire question of why capture Brest, and its importance to the ETO campaign still needs to be examined in more detail, but it does not impact the fact that for a few weeks in August and September 1944, some of the toughest fighting in the war took place in Brittany- and has all but been forgotten.
As a sequel to Beyond the Beachhead, in which we see a Green National Guard unit transform into a combat ready unit and survive its first engagement, this volume takes that unit and shows how it adjusted to extended combat and became a veteran division. One can only hope a final volume in this series will take the story one step further and show the transformation into the professional combat organization it was by the end of the war.
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
|
Store Categories
|