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Cracking Hitler's Atlantic Wall: The 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers on D-Day |  | Author: Richard C. Anderson Jr.
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Category: Book
List Price: $32.95
Buy New: $19.88
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Seller: backpack_books
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 725971
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 10 x 8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0811705897
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5421421
EAN: 9780811705899
ASIN: 0811705897
Publication Date: December 16, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Landing with the British and Canadians in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, was the 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers, a specialised armoured unit tasked with removing obstacles and mines from Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches. To support this mission, the engineers modified their tanks with ingenious innovations, such as replacing the main gun with a giant mortar or attaching a steamroller-like device to flatten a path in the sand. In the early hours of D-Day, the brigade landed under fire, took serious casualties in some areas, but achieved many of its key objectives and cleared the way for the infantry.
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| Customer Reviews:
An excellent book with new research March 12, 2010
Gary E. Binder (Waverly, NE USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Over my years as a "tank nut" I have read several accounts of the use of specialized armored vehicles to support Operation Neptune, the invasion phase of Operation Overlord. This book sets a new standard. Well researched and well written. Anderson goes beyond the basic premise, he not only looks at the British development and use of specialized armor but puts the equipmenmt in context by looking at the assault plans, the German defenses and the rushed preparations for battle. The author also looks at the American use of specialized tanks and debunks the common belief that the US Army was too arrogant to use the British-designed equipment. Citing reports and looking at the tactical situation he points out that there 1) although the American leaders were interested, there were barely enough special vehicles to meet Commonwealth needs and 2) the terrain on Omaha Beach would have negated much of their use anyway. The book brings up a lot of new information, such as that the "British" Amoured Vehicle Royal Engineers was the brainchild of a Canadian officer, or that there were only six of the Crocodile flamethrower tanks deployed on DDay. This book will be of interest to the reader interested in DDay and to the historian interested in military vehicles. I'm glad I bought this one.
 Excellent new D-Day account February 23, 2010
P. Welch (UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a valuable addition to the literature on the 79th Armoured Division, `Hobo's Funnies'. The division had a range of exotic vehicles, which were intended to help the allies ashore and through the German defences on D-Day (and were to do sterling service in the remainder of the NW Europe campaign). The 79th had such vehicles as Sherman Crabs, to deal with mines, Churchill Crocodile flamethrowers and Sherman DD swimming tanks. Richard Anderson's book focuses on the engineer tank, the Churchill AVRE, which was looked after by the 1st Assault Brigade, Royal Engineers, of the book's title. This tank carried various devices like bridges and fascines for bridging gaps and climbing seawalls, carpets to lay on soft sand, and a large mortar that fired a 40lb bomb. The AVREs accompanied the leading waves of British and Canadian troops ashore around H-Hour on D-Day with the tasks of helping to clear exits from the beach, deal with enemy defences and help clear obstacles. This is the story Richard Anderson tells.
This is the first book devoted to the 1st Assault Brigade since the brigade's own history was published in 1945, and as such it is greatly welcomed. The book has a good overview of the development of the Brigade and a useful summary of the development of the AVRE and its equipment. The role of Canadian Lt Denovan is given suitable prominence in the AVRE's history. There is a good discussion of the Allied plans and the forces assigned to each beach. Anderson is particularly effective on how the proliferation of obstacles, under Rommel's orders, affected Allied planning. There is a good chapter on the German defences that would be faced along the Normandy coast.
The landings are well covered, in detail for each gapping team, largely using Regimental war diaries and other original documentation. The author puts the gapping operations of the Brigade into the context of the wider forces involved. He also compares the experience of the British and Canadians with those of the American landings on Omaha and Utah. Indeed the discussion of the American engineering efforts and the resulting operations on D-Day are some of the best parts of the book. Anderson also effectively uses a number of personal accounts from the Archives, using `after action' reports; this is especially the case for the Gold landings. There are many useful and interesting tables, and numerous photographs and maps.
Other highlights of the book are a good discussion of the contribution of the assault engineers to the success of D-Day, and an excellent examination of the so-called `offer' of funnies by the British, and shows that the accepted notion of a simple refusal by the Americans is simply misleading. Finally he discusses what impact the Funnies would have had if they had all been used on Omaha. In a well argued conclusion he shows that they may have helped on the western end of the beach, but that the superb natural defensive terrain, the fortifications and the effective German defence would have meant that it is unlikely they would have had any significant impact.
Overall, this is a very useful book, and a welcome account. There are a few minor errors here and there. In part this is due to time constraints limiting research to Regimental level war diaries rather than going down to Squadron level. Thus there are some errors in who was on what landing craft, the Ipswich company that produced the AVRE conversion kits was Cocksedge, not Cockbridge; there are also very small inaccuracies in the roll of honour - for instance in 77 Sapper Frank Winstanley was also a fatality; in 79's roll is Ray Marsden, but he served in 81 (and indeed was killed on D-Day). An addition is also Sapper Scott, who was a Dozer driver in 149 Assault Park Sq and was killed on D-Day. But this does not detract from an excellent well-researched book, highly recommended.
High Marks to Anderson's History of the 1st Assault Brigade! January 11, 2010
John V. Rauscher (Weare, NH USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Anderson's recent work on the D-Day Assaults, specifically those efforts of the 1st Assault Brigade of the British Royal Engineers is a refreshing work that will satisfy arm-chair historians, model builders or the scholarly researcher. Not only does Anderson provide good coverage of the vehicles used - with clear, crisp, black and white photographs and some line drawings of vehicles, but many show them in context, making any modeler clap his hands with glee on the potential for modeling diorama ideas!
Anderson goes further, however, by providing the reader with some peripheral details of the assaults on the US beaches, as well as specific tactical mapping for all the allied attacking forces and their respective landing zones, and the forces awaiting them in France. Perhaps best of all, there are fairly detailed orders of battle for each beach, listing many if not all, of the units that took part on each assault.
And perhaps most important of all, Anderson's book is highly readable. Its not stuffy, over-zealous in its scope, nor does it get so bogged down in detail that you lose track of the point of the book. I give this work high marks, and promise you won't be sorry for picking it up as a valued addition to your library!
Unique detail; rare photos January 1, 2010
Michael Arnold (Manassas, VA USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
A wonderful, ground-level and detailed account of the landing, fighting, and clearing of the French beaches on June 6th, 1944. This book gives a well deserved "Shout-Out' to the men, the Engineers, who played a vital role in clearing those beaches. The author provides a provocative perspective that gives further insight to those tenuous first hours as Allied forces slammed into Hitler's Atlantic Wall. If reading of the events on D-Day is your thing, this book will be a great addition to your library.
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