FONTENAY-RAURAY. The Bear and Fox, Ready for the Fray

FONTENAY - RAURAY - The Bear and Fox, Ready for the Fray - The 49th Infantry Division and 8th Armored Brigade facing the Panzer-Lehr-Division and the Panzerdivision "Hitlerjugend" 13.6 - 1.7.1944

Final study of the commitments of the 8th Armored Brigade and the 49th Infantry Division "Polar Bears" from 13.6 to 1.7.1944 in the Audrieu - Fontenay-le-Pesnel - Rauray axis. After more than 12 years of research, thanks to the walking journals, numerous documents and unpublished testimonies collected, the author was able to retrace a meticulous chronology of the battles from day to day, sometimes hour by hour during the "Dauntless" operations and "Martlet". The British breach made on June 25, 1944 near Fontenay-le-Pesnel, at the hinge between the Panzer-Lehr-Division and the 12.SS-Pz.Division "Hitlerjugend", will guarantee the right flank-guard to ensure the breakthrough decisive of "Epsom". For several days, the Germans will try everything to avoid the collapse of this portion of the front by launching new units on Rauray and Cheux (2.Pz.Division, s.SS-Pz.Abt.101, Kampfgruppe Weidinger, 9. SS-Pz.Division "Hohenstaufen"), without ever succeeding. The salient of Tessel-Rauray will never be reduced. It took all the expertise of the author to restore the historical veracity of the facts undermined until recently, such as the so-called absence of Tiger heavy tanks from the s.SS-Pz.Abt.101 in Fontenay -le-Pesnel. The sum of information and the exceptional iconography of more than 1,000 precisely captioned photographs (portraits, period maps or relics of the battlefield) largely unpublished, constitute essential documentation of 448 pages for a better understanding of the Battle of Normandy. Hardcover color album, quality paper, A4 interior format (21x29.7 cm), 448 color pages.