Cracking Hitler's Atlantic Wall
Subtitle: the 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers on D-Day
By: Richard C. Anderson, Jr.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Mechanicsburg, PA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 266
ISBN-13: 9780811705899
Subjects: Great Britain. -- Army. -- Royal Engineers. -- Assault Brigade, 1st; World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- France -- Normandy; World War, 1939-1945 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain; Atlantic Wall (France and Belgium)
Description: Landing with the British and Canadians in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, was the 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers, a specialized armored 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Conception; title: Organization, training, and equipment; title: Allied planning and preparation; title: German planning and preparation; title: Assault force sword, the 3rd British Infantry Division; title: Assault force Juno, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division; title: Assault force Gold, the 50th British Infantry Division; title: Assault force Omaha, the U.S. 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions; title: Assault force Utah, the 4th U.S. Infantry Division.