Featured battle : Operation Goodwood

Part of Second World War

Date : 18 July 1944 - 20 July 1944

In Operation "Goodwood," from 18th -20th July 1944, Montgomery hoped, by using 2nd British Army and elements of 1st Canadian Army to break the Germans hold on Caen and drive an armoured spearhead southeast toward Argenten. This was the largest armoured undertaking ever to be mounted by the British. Although British VIII Corps bore the brunt of the fighting which, ended in stalemate, but held five German Panzer Divisions. This enabled the 1st US Army facing only one and a half Panzer Divisions to break out and start the race for Paris.

The Transformation of British Naval Strategy

James Davey
This is a book aimed more at the specialist rather than the general browser. Having said that it is written in an easy flowing style which makes the subject matter easy to understand. The subject of the book, sub-titled 'seapower and supply in Northern Europe 1808 to 1812' is the logistical problem of keeping a substantial fleet supplied with all its needs far from any base. The story is one of the evolution and development of systems which brought together the different branches of the supply chain to become a very efficient 'machine'. The end user, Admiral Saumarez's fleet, contributed greatly, in terms of the feed back, to the vast improvements made. The text is supported by very few illustrations and maps but with a wealth of tables and graphs.
A book not to missed by students of Napoleonic naval warfare.
I warmly recommend a fascinatingly good read.
The Boydell Press, 2012