Featured battle : Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge)

Part of Second World War

Date : 16 December 1944 - 16 January 1945

Field-Marshal Model's Army Group B had built up massive reserves against the Allied lines in the Ardennes and launched them in a winter strike aiming to split the allied line and seize important communications and supply points. Initially hitting Hodge's US 1st Army hard, the 'bulge' punched deep into Belgium with the 6th SS Panzer Army leading, supported by the 5th Panzer and 7th Army. However stubborn resistance by US 7th Armoured Div. at St Vith and the 101st Airborne and attached units refusal to give up Bastogne slowed the advance. Of primary importance was the failure of the panzer units to make it to the allied fuel dumps before running out of their own. On 3rd Jan the US and British launched a counter offensive to cut off the bulge from both north and south and although Model managed to extract most of the major units, the salient was eliminated when the US 2nd Armoured from the north and 11th Armoured from the south met up at Houffalize on the 16th. By the 25th, the front line was restored to it's position at the beginning of December but the Germans had used up the last of their reserves.

Coastal Defences of the British Empire

Daniel MacCannell
The physical structures for the defence of the coasts are occasionally touched upon but rarely dealt with in detail. That this book does just that makes it special. The text flows easily and covers the political background, the designs and discussions around them and goes on to the building, equipping and manning of the great variety of structures. In addition to the British Isle overseas territories are covered. There are lots of illustrations placed in their relevant locations throughout the book. Among the extensive end notes there are many references out to further reading.
This is both an informative and enjoyable read which we recommend to all readers.

Pen & Sword Military, 2021