1944, AMERICAN ARMOUR - From Normandy to Mons

The decisive success of Operation "Cobra" left in the collective imagination an indelible impression of overwhelming power. Images of a wave of tanks still associated today with an all-powerful US Army. And yet! Four years earlier, in July 1940, the US Army did not possess a single tank worthy of the name, nor a single armoured division!

The purpose of this book is to retrace, through the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions, the journey from the faltering steps on the Louisiana manoeuvre grounds to the battlefield of Normandy.

The victorious Blitzkrieg of spring 1940 shook Washington's decision-makers to their core! Overnight, everything had to be built from scratch in terms of mechanised warfare. The creation of an Armored Force, the units it would command, the men who would lead them into battle, the equipment and the doctrines of employment — everything had to be created! And in a hurry!

The baptisms of fire, the lessons learned in the Mediterranean and then in Normandy. The landings of both divisions and their acclimatisation to the bocage. First victory at Carentan and first setback at Villiers-Fossard. The preparation for "Cobra". Nothing was straightforward or easy against the Wehrmacht — the benchmark against which they had to measure themselves in order to surpass it, exhausted though it was. And then the "tide" — in theory… …or not quite. For the two Heavy Divisions, from the Vire to the Seine via Mortain, the end of the Normandy campaign faced a stubborn enemy that gave nothing away.

With the Seine finally reached, the headlong race began! A pursuit of the German armies beaten in Normandy but not destroyed — armies that surprised everyone with the speed of their strategic withdrawal northward through France and into Belgium.