After the presentation of a battlefield lecture, The Men of Omaha Beach, last night, I met a man who has written a moving poem about warfare during the past 100 years. Rather than presenting it, I direct your attention to a website that offers the poem and presents a short film based upon that poem.
Read and see A Life of Death.
Thank you.
Arlington Heights, IL (May 7, 2014)
This morning the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group announced the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Robert Mueller’s Normandy battlefields travel guide, Fields of War: Battle of Normandy was named as a Finalist in the Travel Category.
In his new book, Fields of War: Battle of Normandy (471 pp., $29.95), veteran battlefield historian, Robert Mueller, brings us to the actual locations and describes the events of the largest amphibious landing in history. The narrative revolves around the stories of the privates, NCOs, and junior officers who faced overwhelming odds with courage – ordinary men from ordinary backgrounds, who did extraordinary things.
Written as a tour guide, Fields of War includes 94 maps and 32 pages of photographs of battle action, ruins, monuments, and cemeteries. Visitors are guided to major landmarks and artifacts and through Normandy’s scenic countryside and historic villages.
Fields of War: Battle of Normandy
Soft Cover, Perfect Bound
ISBN 978-0-9823677-3-5
471 Pages Including 32 Pages Of B&W Photographs And 94 Maps
6″ X 9″ (15.2cm X 22.8cm) $29.95
Available from: Amazon, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Brodart, and Gazelle Book Service (UK).
More information about Fields of War: Battle of Normandy and the author’s battlefield lecture series is available at www.frenchbattlefields.com .
French Battlefields
PO Box 4808 Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-4808
Fax: 224-735-3478 / Email: sales@frenchbattlefields.com
I am pleased to announce that our new battlefield guide book, Fields of War: Battle of Normandy, will be available on April 1, 2014.
On 6 June 1944, 156,000 American, British, and Canadian servicemen fought ashore on beaches along the Normandy coast or landed from the air to begin wresting back Nazi occupied Europe. The D-Day invasion was the largest amphibious landing in history. Although successful, it was only precursor to months of the deadly fighting necessary to dislodge stubborn German defenders from the Norman countryside and eventually liberate France.
As a visitor’s guide, Fields of War: Battle of Normandy presents the actual locations of key events in the struggle to free France from German occupation. Each battlefield visit begins with a succinct history of events followed by a description of the intense military action that determined success or failure. The narrative revolves around the stories of the privates, NCOs, and junior officers whose sacrifices made success possible. Extensive detailed maps illustrate the flow of the battle across the landscape and the units that participated. Detailed driving instructions and GPS co-ordinates direct visitors to each battlefield site. Descriptions of museums, memorials, cemeteries, and surviving artifacts are given along with their hours of operation. Mailing, email, and web addresses are also provided.
The first nine chapters are each dedicated to the actions of one invading division on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The engagements of the British 3rd and 50th Infantry Divisions, British 6th Airborne Division, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, the US 1st, 4th, and 29th Infantry Divisions, and 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions are related through the actions of the men and units who made the invasion ultimately successful. The next five chapters relate the key engagements for the Norman cities of Caen, Cherbourg, and St-Lo, Operation Cobra, and the ultimate annihilation of the German Seventh Army in the Battle of Falaise Gap. A final chapter describes the Liberation of Paris by French partisans and elements of the 2nd French Armored Division.
Available from Amazon, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble or directly from French Battlefields at http://www.frenchbattlefields.com
SOFT COVER, PERFECT BOUND
ISBN: 978-0-9823677-3-5
471 PAGES INCLUDING
32 PAGES OF B&W PHOTOGRAPHS AND 94 MAPS
6″ X 9″ (15.2cm X 22.8cm)
$29.95
A ‘Virtual Battlefield Tour’ from Fields of War: Fifty Key Battlefields in France and Belgium
Summary: The first fight in Polygon Wood was in October 1914, when the Germans held the northern half and the British held the southern. Attacks by British Guards regiments were beaten back with heavy casualties. The wood was completely occupied by the Germans during their advances of 1915. It received its name from British soldiers due to the shape of the wooded area’s boundary.
Before the war, a long, narrow butte on the northern end of the wood was the site of a Belgian army rifle range. From its summit, German riflemen and artillery observers held commanding views of the countryside in all directions. As part of the German defenses, the butte was interlaced with tunnels and dugouts.
Advancing behind a creeping barrage, the 5th Australian Division captured Polygon Wood on 26 September 1917, during the segment of the Third Battle of Ypres known as the Battle of Menin Road. The bombardment reduced the wood to shattered stumps.
View Polygon Wood: October 1914 ‘- A Virtual Battlefield Tour by French Battlefields (www.frenchbattlefields.com)’ in a larger map
Although the German Fourth and Sixth Armies had thus far failed to penetrate the allied line, the German Supreme Command believed that a fresh push would bring victory. Gathering together units released from other fronts, Falkenhayn created Army Group Fabeck, commanded by veteran of the Franco-Prussian War General Max von Fabeck and comprised of six infantry divisions, whose mission was to attack along the British line from Ploegsteert Wood to Geluveld. Continued pressure along the front from the two German armies would prohibit allied transfer of reserve troops. The attack came as a surprise to the British. Before a preliminary attack against Geluveld commenced on 29 October, Sir John French reported to Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener that the Germans were incapable of launching any further attacks despite the interception of Group Fabeck’s plans. British aerial reconnaissance on 28 October, however, reported a large movement of German troops astride theMenin Road.
A ‘Virtual Battlefield Tour’ from Fields of War: Fifty Key Battlefields in France and Belgium
Summary: A preliminary move on 29 October, the 54th Reserve Division, strengthened by a brigade of Bavarian reservists, struck west of Becelaere. The thin lines of the Coldstream Guards and the Black Watch were nearly overrun because the enemy suddenly appeared out of the dense fog. Both sides committed reserves as the fighting spread south of the Menin Road and against the British 20th Brigade. The intense struggle continued all day, with high losses on both sides until darkness and a heavy rain chilled the engagement.
The next day Fabeck unleashed his battalions with deadly consequences as German divisions south of the Menin Road attacked reinforced positions with deadly accurate fire that covered the landscape with grey-clad bodies. Fabeck’s men were even more successful farther south, where they drove Allenby’s 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Divisions back three kilometers.
View Battle of Geluveld: 29 to 31 Octover 1914 ‘- A Virtual Battlefield Tour by French Battlefields (www.frenchbattlefields.com)’ in a larger map
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