(Includes maps) The campaign in the summer of 1944 related in this volume included some of the most spectacular ground action of the U.S. Army during World War II. It began with the slow and costly hedgerow fighting against determined German efforts to contain the Normandy beachhead; it entered its decisive stage when the breach of German defenses permitted full exploitation of the power and mobility of U.S. Army ground troops; and it reached the peak of brilliance with successive envelopments of principal German forces and the pursuit of their remnants north and east to free, most of France, part of Belgium, and portions of the Netherlands. By late August the war in the west appeared to be almost over, but the tyranny of logistics gave the enemy time to rally at the fortified West Wall and delay surrender for another eight months. In the European Theater subseries the backdrop for this volume is "Cross-Channel Attack", which carries the story to 1 July. "Breakout and Pursuit" follows the U.S. First Army through 10 September (where "The Siegfried Line Campaign" picks up the narrative), and the U.S. Third Army through 31 August (where "The Lorraine Campaign" begins). The logistical factors that played so large a part in governing the pace and extent of combat operations are described in much greater detail in Volume I of "Logistical Support of the Armies." The tremendous scope of this campaign, and its partially improvised character, have left a heritage of controversies to which no final answers can be given. The author has had free access to the records and to many of the leading players in the drama, and his account should have wide appeal to the general reader as well as to the serious military student of grand tactics.
About the Author: Martin Blumenson, a graduate of Bucknell University, received M.A. degrees in History from Bucknell in 1940 and from Harvard University in 1942. Commissioned in the Army of the United States, he served as a historical officer of the Third and Seventh Armies in the European theater during World War II. After the war he taught history at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) and at Hofstra College. Recalled to active duty with the U.S. Army in 1950, he commanded a historical detachment in Korea before beginning work on "Breakout and Pursuit" in June 1952. He wrote the book while on active duty in the Office of the Chief of Military History. After a tour of duty as Historian, Joint Task Force SEVEN, he returned to OCMH as a civilian historian and is writing a volume on the war in the Mediterranean theater-Salerno to Cassino. His works include Special Problems of the Korean Conflict (Washington, 1952); The Atomic Weapons Tests in the Pacific, 1956 (Washington, 1957); two essays in "Command Decisions" (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. 1959); and numerous articles in military and historical journals.