The Third US Army conquered the Brittany peninsula by August 1944, and isolated German forces into Lorient, Brest and St Nazaire. The strategic objective, stated above, was the capture of the ports and their harbors. The Third US Army’s role in the first phases of this battle were covered in a previous book in this series, The Battle for Brittany Then and Now, The Third US Army First Battle. On 5 September 1944, the Ninth US Army took command of the VIII Corps with the mission of taking Brest and, with it, Brittany.

Brest featured largely in the Allied plans for the capture of Normandy. Once the beachhead was secured, ports were necessary for the continuation of offensive operations to dislodge the Germans from France. From the introduction,

“Allied planners estimates that operations in France could be sustained by supplying over the beaches and Cherbourg’s limited port facilities until early September. After that date, weather conditions would significantly reduce the tonnage that could be landed via the beaches. When planning operations for late summer 1944, one mission clearly stood out to Allied leaders: the capture of Brest.”

This is the story, but it is not a scholarly account of the battle and lacks maps to help understand the campaign thoroughly; however, the strength of this series of books is exquisitely shown in period and modern photographs, often shown from the same viewpoint. The format is easy to understand and provides numerous photographs that will serve as inspiration for modelers.

This book is presented in the familiar After the Battle format with a hardcover containing 120 pages with 200 black and white photographs and five color photos (on the book jacket), often compared with modern day images, composing the following five chapters:

Introduction

The Battle for Brest

The Ninth US Army Takes Over

Finale at Crozon

Paul R. Stevenson, Capture, and Escape

World War II modelers wanting to build something from the Brittany campaign will find this book useful. Not only were American infantry units involved, supported by American armor, the British supplied a squadron of the 141^st Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, with 15 Crocodile flame throwing tanks. The Germans also had armored vehicles, but they are not well represented as the photographs are taken from the Allied perspective. While some of the shots are staged, the Brittany background and damage are real. For a great, head-turning vignette or diorama, there is a photo of a mortar section firing with a soldier with a striped tie. German forces included combat troops (fallschirmjäger, Kriegsmarine and Wehrmacht), auxiliaries and German and French support personnel.

The lack of maps is frustrating with what is otherwise a fantastic book. On the plus side, the photographs more than make up for it, and Google is your friend when looking for locations (the now photographs contain coordinates, which is fantastic).

The chapter, Paul R. Stevenson, Capture and Escape, is amazing and personalizes the battle of that lieutenant in C Company, 644^th Tank Destroyer Battalion. The chapter focuses on this platoon leader of four M10 tank destroyers and the inept leadership that put him directly, and unnecessarily, into harms way. His fighting, capture and escape are captivating (please pardon the pun). After his escape with three other Americans, they were interviewed by the VIII Corps Commander, Major General Troy Middleton, who ignored the lieutenant and aircrewman, and rebuffed the infantryman. In the words of Lieutenant Stevenson, “A large man, dressed in World War I Cavalry boots and wearing thick eyeglasses, General Middleton was not impressive to me.” Among the final words in the book, Lieutenant Stevenson continues,

“I do not care what honors that fat-headed REMF General may have won in campaigns that followed for Third Army. I know no single proper word for him so must settle for Two-Star Asshole from the GitGo.”

Profuse thanks to Casemate (https://www.casematepublishers.com) and IPMS-USA for providing the review sample.