This absorbing study investigates the doctrine, training, equipment,
and combat record of the US specialist beach-landing troops and their
German opponents who fought over three bitterly contested amphibious
beachheads in Europe at the height of World War II.
During World War II, the US Army and its allies faced a formidable
challenge: the need to assault Hitler's "Fortress Europe" from the sea.
As a result, during 1941--45, the US Army had to add amphibious assault
to its list of combat capabilities. Officers and troops from across the
US Armed Forces had to develop the techniques and technologies to
assault the coasts of Axis-occupied Europe, from logistics to beach
assault and beachhead consolidation, and more. In order to win and hold
a contested beachhead in the face of bitter enemy resistance, the
amphibious-warfare specialists played a variety of essential battlefield
roles; if the US troops could not establish a beachhead quickly, they
risked being thrown back into the sea. For their part, the Germans had
to devise a practical defensive doctrine that made the most of the
limited resources and troops available and the terrain. The German
infantry defenders immediately around the landing areas had to be able
to call upon support from nearby artillery, mechanized troops, and
armored forces to have a chance of containing the enemy beachhead.
This illustrated study analyses the specialist beach-landing troops
involved in three key battles--the Allied amphibious landings at Salerno
and Anzio in Italy, and Omaha Beach in Normandy--focusing upon the US
Army's various types of beach-assault specialists and their German
opponents, whose combat experience and effectiveness varied
considerably. Each of the three featured battles is then examined in
detail, exploring how the Germans made defensive preparations; how the
US troops planned to overcome them; and the immediate actions undertaken
by the US amphibious specialists and their German opponents both during
and following the main assault landings.
