ALLIED AND GERMAN SOLDIERS NORMANDY 1944

A comprehensive guide to the equipment and uniforms of Allied and German soldiers * Many items presented for the first time. On 6th June 1944, thousands of men landed on the Normandy beaches to free Europe from the Nazi occupation. Over two months, soldiers of all origins were to battle in the Normandy bocage. American and British soldiers of course, but also Canadian, Polish, Belgian and French troops were to challenge those from the German Wehrmacht and SS, together with Russians donning the German uniform. Over 240,000 soldiers were to pay the ultimate sacrifice during these two months of intense combat, during which landscapes were devastated and Normandy's towns and villages destroyed, with civilian losses estimated at 45,000. The aim of this book is to offer an insight into the uniforms worn and the equipment used by the soldiers who fought on Norman soil, many of whom are now laid to rest throughout the region's cemeteries. Several collectors have contributed towards enhancing the book's contents, presenting, for the first time, the finest from their collections, painstakingly and patiently recovered across Normandy's battlefields. Each and every one of these precious objects holds its own share of history and many are the last remaining witnesses of this terrible combat.