Georges Bernage – författare

The Battle of the Odon evokes the clash between the British Army and the II SS-Panzer Korps, as they attacked across the Odon Valley during Operation "Epsom" in June 1944. Using contemporary photographs and documents, this book provides day-by-day details of the operation that what just one part of what is commonly referred to as the 'Battle of Normandy'.

In June 1944, the Americans left the Sainte-M re-Eglise and Utah Beach bridgehead and crossed the Merderet river to the Chauss e de la Fiere, taking Picauville on 10 June. Their advance was slowed following the failure of the 90th Infantry Division, but they were able to take Pont-l'Abbe on 12 June and Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte 16 June. Two days later they cut the Cotentin peninsula at Barneville, before heading north towards Cherbourg. As well as authentic eyewitness testimony, the book also acts as a field guide, including maps and both comtemporary and modern photographs.

On the night of 8 August 1944, the First Canadian Army launched Operation Totalize, directing their advance towards Falaise, with the intention of breaking through the German defences south of Caen. In spite of large numbers, they were halted by the 12.SS- Panzer-Division "Hitierjugend", who managed to block the 600 armored vehicles. During one of the German counter-attacks, several Tiger tanks were destroyed, including that of panzer ace, Michael Wittmann, who was killed in the process.The offensive was relaunched a few days later under the name Operation Tractable, the intention this time being to capture the strategically important town of Falaise and close the 'Falaise Pocket', also known as the 'Corridor of Death'.This book provides the reader with a day-by-day account of this forgotten battle, while also acting as a field guide, including maps and both comtemporary and modern photographs.

In this important new work on Normandy, Georges Bernage offers a close examination of the decisive moments between 5 and 8 June, 1944, when the Panzers arrived on the front line. He details their units and their very first engagements on the battlefield, using remarkable original photographs.This highly detailed album adds up to an invaluable resource for the avid modeller, keen tank enthusiast and general historian alike.French Language

During the night of 5-6 June 1944, the Pathfinders were the first allied soldiers to set foot on Norman soil, the paratroops of the 82nd and the 101st Airborne Divisions fighting all night until the 4th Infantry Division, landing on Utah Beach, linked up with them. German troops and defences, paratroopers’ eyewitness accounts, unpublished material are all supplied in this superbly illustrated album.

The "Corridor of the Death" is the bottleneck of the famous Falaise-Argentan pocket, where the German fighting forces will be destroyed by Allied power. The Germans will leave several thousand dead and 40,000 prisoners in the pocket, after half of them managed to break through. This book tells this hell. The Battle of Mortain with incredible revelations: conspiritors of July 20th leading the counter-attack? The fights day by day with various testimonies and anecdotes, but also details never seen before on the engagement of panzer units in the Argentan area. An event book beautifully illustrated by an abundant iconography. TEXT IN ENGLISH

June 7, 1944. The Allies have landed in Normandy, where they have set a bridgehead : yet this one is narrow and fragile. The Canadians sprint on to Carpiquet, but their attack is crushed by panzers of the Hitlerjugend Division that have just rejoined the frontline. Canadians and Germans are going to fight each other violently, and the tension is at its highest – some Canadian soldiers are murdered in Buron, and at the Ardenne Abbey. June 8, 1944. The Winnipegs are crushed by a German counter-attack in Putot. Some German soldiers are executed on Hill 102, and some Canadian soldiers are executed in Audrieu and Le Mesnil-Patry. Who are the people responsible for those actions ? For the first time, the mystery is partially unveiled. Then, the crazy night attack on Bretteville-l’Orgueilleuse – some panzers will burn and light this terrible night. June 9, 1944. The “Ribbentrop Company” attacks Norrey : seven Panther tanks are destroyed. The Hitlerjugend’s counter-attack is stopped. In Norrey, this is “the accident” : shrapnel wipe out a lot of civilians. The acme of horror has been reached. Thanks to a large number of testimonies, given by the combatants and the Norman civilians – who also suffered a lot during the battle –, this book offers a degree of precision never reached regarding the Battle of Normandy. The wartime and current pictures, the portraits of soldiers and civilians, the maps and the plans make this book a real movie of these “three days in hell” between Bayeux and Caen, whilethe frontline was still not stabilized, while the soldiers were trying to go from one enemy strongpoint to another, and while the civilians did not know where the danger was…

6 juin 1944, deux divisions aéroportées américaines sont larguées à l’est de la Presqu’île du Cotentin. L’une d’elles, la 101st Airborne Division, a pour mission d’ouvrir les sorties de plages pour la 4th Infantry Division qui va débarquer sur Utah Beach mais aussi de dégager les passages sur la Douve, au sud, au milieu des marais pour atteindre et prendre Carentan, petite ville située au coeur de cette zone aquatique mais aussi carrefour stratégique permettant la jonction avec la tête de pont d’Omaha Beach. Prendre Carentan, c’est réunir les forces américaines, un échec isolerait dangereusement les forces ayant pris pied dans le Cotentin. Les Allemands sont numériquement surclassés mais un régiment d’élite, les paras du Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 de von der Heydte, se trouve à proximité et monte en ligne face à la 101e. Ce sera alors un combat acharné entre paras américains et paras allemands, dans le secteur de Saint-Côme-du-Mont puis devant Carentan. Les paras du 502 PIR attaquent la chaussée, avec de lourdes pertes puis sur la ferme Ingouf. C’est enfin le mythique combat du « carré de choux ». Submergé dans Carentan, véritable « Cassino » normand, von der Heydte décroche dans la nuit du 11 au 12 juin, avant la contre-attaque allemande du 13 menée avec la « Götz ». C’est un échec, la bataille est finie. Les Américains ont assuré la jonction entre les deux têtes de pont. Cet ouvrage très documenté suit ces opérations mal connues, jour par jour avec de nombreux témoignages et des documents exceptionnels.

This book is the fruit of forty years of contact with military and civilian witnesses, now almost all gone, of research, analyses and descriptions of several thousands of photographs about the Landings and the Battle of Normandy. This book is the best synthesis, day by day, from 6 June to 30 August, with a clear narrative, an exceptional report illustrated with the best photographs (470), 22 armour and aircraft profiles and above all, 79 maps enabling the reader to follow this very complex battle more easily. The documentation, unique in the world, will allow you to discover one of the greatest pages of history, and to travel through Normandy, and find those moments when you go back in time thanks to the narratives and the photographs

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.