Following the failure at Villers-Bocage and a further failure at the end
of June 1944 facing Hill 112 at the end of Operation Epsom (the "Battle
of the Odon"), Monty relaunched an attack against Hill 112, southwest of
Caen, on 10 July 1944. In doing so, he sought to go around the D-Day
objective of the capital of lower-Normandy via the south which, at that
time, was still held by the Germans. However, as had been the case at
Villers-Bocage, British troops failed again at this strategic area
against the formidable Tiger tanks. Under artillery barrages, this high
ground was fiercely contested at the cost of terrible losses on both
sides. Hill 112 would become a veritable "Norman Verdun", a battle of
destruction reminiscent of the hell of the Great War. Richly
illustrated, this album presents a precise historical text recounting
the operations hour by hour with numerous testimonies, and provides a
real film of the fighting accompanied by period photos as well as
battlefield equipment, tank profiles and then-and-now photos that make
it a real guide to this battlefield.
This book quickly went out of print following its publication in 2008
and this is a long-awaited reprint of a very important battle.
