Beyond the Beachhead

by Balkoski, Joseph

• ISBN13: 9780811726825
• ISBN10: 0811726827
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: Stackpole Books

Summary

By 1945, the US Army had sixty-eight infantry divisions, forty-two of which fought in the great campaign in north-west Europe that began with the amphibious landings on D-Day and ended eleven months later with Germany's surrender. This book examines the experience of one infantry division -- the 29th -- during forty-five days of combat from Omaha Beach on D-Day to the liberation at St Lô. Using interviews, official records and unit histories and supplementing his narrative with meticulously detailed maps, Balkoski follows the 29th from the bloody landings at Omaha through the hedgerows of Normandy, illustrating the brutal realities of life on the front line.

Author Biography

Joseph Balkoski is a historian specializing in the history of D-Day and the Normandy campaign during World War II

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vi	(1)
List of Maps	vii	(1)
Map Legend	viii	(1)
Foreword	ix	(2)
Stephen E. Ambrose
Preface	xi
1 Introduction: Twenty-nine, Let's Go, June 1944	1	(14)
2 Stateside: The Blue and the Gray Division, 1917-1942	15	(21)
3 England: "Us and the Home Guard," October 1942-June 1944	36	(29)
4 The Enemy: Festung Europa, 1940-1944	65	(15)
5 Men and Guns: The Emptiness of the Battlefield, 1944	80	(37)
6 D-Day: "We've Got to be Infantrymen Now," June 16, 1944	117	(31)
7 The Beachhead: "Boche Kaput," June 7-9, 1944	148	(27)
8 On to St. Lo: "It Didn't Smell Right from the First," June 10-13, 1944	175	(31)
9 Stagnation: "Altogether It Was Hell," June 14-July 10, 1944	206	(30)
10 Triumph: The Major of St. Lo, July 11-13, 1944	236	(43)
Appendix: U.S. and German Tables of Organization and Equipment	279	(10)
References	289	(6)
Bibliography	295	(4)
Acknowledgments	299	(3)
Index	302