Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy

The book was well written and full of incredible details but it would only be god for historians on my opinion The author often got bogged down in more detail than I wanted and, to me, this interfered with the flow of the story I think students of history will be pleased with the obviously well researched writing

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.

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.

A well researched book that flows extremely well. The author describes the division's formation, training, and preparations for the invasion of Normandy. The author also describes the German 352nd Infantry Division (primary opponent of the 29th Infantry Division in Normandy) it's background and formation. The author then compares the commanders, each nation's tactics, and overall battle strategy for the Normandy invasion. The description of the initial assaults into Omaha landing zone is sobering, whole companies annihilated. As the author describes the follow-on landings and the eventual US breakthrough, the author goes into a "what if" analysis. What if the German high command and Division commander followed Rommel's strategy to place more troops on the beach zones. What if one extra German infantry battalion or regiment had been defending the landing zones, would the US troops been able to move inland? What if one panzer regiment was in proximity to counterattack the first day? The author then writes of the deadly fighting in the hedgerows in trying to capture St. Lo. This becomes a very sobering point. The author notes that the 29th Infantry Division spent 8 weeks in Normandy, and took in 15,000 replacements to maintain the fighting strength of the 14,000 soldier Division. The 82nd Airborne Division (approx. 8500 troops) spent 4 weeks in Normandy and took approx, 45% casualties (according to official records). Quite the comparison in roles and casualties suffered when not being able to pulled from the front line to receive and integrate replacements. The similar is described in The Battle for the Hurtgen Forest (Charles MacDonald) where the US took 28,000 casualties in series of deadly infantry attacks in a deep forest that reduced whole US Infantry Divisions, including the 1st and 28th. In the Band of Brother (Ambrose) Easy Company spent years training, as did the 29th Infantry Div, jumped into Normandy, and was pulled off the fighting line to refit while the Infantry Divisions fought straight on. Ambrose considers that Easy Company was the best in Europe in late 1944. But when one compares Easy Company (part of the 101st Airborne Division) to those in the 29th Infantry as described in this book, the 29th had it much harder trying to maintain its proficiency and effectiveness due to the time spent in the front lines. Easy company was also more fortunate not to have been a landing boat in the 1st wave into Omaha where entire companies were lost or reduced to a handful of soldiers. One note the author makes is the different leadership styles of the commanders along with the differences and initial bias against the Reserve and National Guard officers by the active duty, West Point graduate, Division Commander. Once the campaign wore on, several ineffective active duty officers were replaced, sometimes by National Guard officers. The point of the matter, where a person gains their commission is not important as to how a pe

Of the scores of WWII histories I have read, this book has got to be in the top 3 (with Burgetts '7 roads' and Macdonalds 'Company Commander'). It traces the history of the 29th Division (including the Stonewallers of Civil War fame) from training, across the bullet infested beaches of Omaha, to the horrors of the Norman Bocage. It gives a day by day account of the drive for St.Lo that shows WWII combat at its worst. For once I have even found a book that has good maps! But there is much more than combat recorded here. Like 'The Deadly Brotherhood', this book takes time to describe some of the elementary parts of warfare such as equipment comparisons with the Germans, communication techniques, and infantry tactics unique to Normandy. And it describes these in an extremely interesting manner. So interesting that, despite being very busy I finished it in under a week. Overall, for a great history of the Normandy campaign and a grisly picture of WWII combat, this book can't be beat!

I could not put this book down. I can never read enough about the Normandy Invasion. Out of all the titles, I liked this one the best (sorry Mr Ambrose), it tells the story of the "Blue and Gray" division, as well as the bloody assault on Omaha Beach. It breaks down the formation of a US infantry division in great detail. Detail, is also the best word to describe the way Balkoski re creates one of the most heroic days in US Military history. If you have a tatse for Normandy books, read this last, all the rest will not measure up after.