FONTENAY-RAURAY - THE BEAR AND FOX, READY FOR THE FRAY

Definitive study of the engagements of the 8th Armoured Brigade and the 49th Infantry Division "Polar Bears" from 13.6 to 1.7.1944 along the Audrieu – Fontenay-le-Pesnel – Rauray axis.

After more than 12 years of research, drawing on war diaries, numerous documents and previously unpublished testimonies, the author has been able to reconstruct a meticulous day-by-day — and sometimes hour-by-hour — chronology of the fighting during Operations "Dauntless" and "Martlet".

The British breakthrough achieved on 25 June 1944 near Fontenay-le-Pesnel, at the junction between the Panzer-Lehr-Division and the 12.SS-Pz.Division "Hitlerjugend", would secure the right flank guard to ensure the decisive breakout of "Epsom". For several days, the Germans would try everything to prevent the collapse of this section of the front by throwing new units against Rauray and Cheux (2.Pz.Division, s.SS-Pz.Abt.101, Kampfgruppe Weidinger, 9.SS-Pz.Division "Hohenstaufen"), without ever succeeding. The Tessel-Rauray salient would never be reduced.

It took all the author's expertise to restore the historical truth of facts that had been distorted until recently, such as the so-called absence of Tiger heavy tanks from s.SS-Pz.Abt.101 in Fontenay-le-Pesnel.

The wealth of information and the exceptional iconography of over 1,000 precisely captioned photographs — portraits, period maps and battlefield relics — largely unpublished, constitute an indispensable 448-page reference for a better understanding of the Battle of Normandy.

Hardcover colour album, quality paper, interior format A4 (21x29.7 cm), 448 colour pages.