Osprey Publishing Presents:

COMBAT:  Fallschirmjäger vs. US Soldier

Saint-Lo  -  1944

The latest book in the Combat series by Osprey Publishing is out.  Centered more this time in the European Theatre in 1944, it is a great book that covers the US G.I. that went up against the German Fallschirmjäger.  Set in the town of St.Lo, this book covers the struggle that these two combatants faced.  In particular, the 29th and 90th US Infantry divisions is covered in great detail in this book.  If you know anything about those divisions, this is a great book to learn more.

This book covers the important struggles between the US G.I. Soldiers and the Fallschirmjäger.  The book is a color/black & white printing that is 9.75 inches X 7.25 inches wide. It consists of 80 pages of paper weight that is pretty substantial in thickness and quality.  Throughout the book, there are illustrations of maps, battles and color plates of what the soldiers were wearing along with the type of gear they would have had.  Of particular interest to me, the battle maps included in this volume are fantastic.

Let's dive into this review.  This book consists of the following chapters:

Conclusion

I found this latest COMBAT Series book to be very informative.  I learned a lot about the trials that both sides in this struggle had to face, with long odds of survival that increasingly became more and more bleak for the German troops.  This book has really great overall maps of the battlefield that allow for an overview and birds-eye view from above that map as it is laid out.  That's a great feature in this book.  It covers the history well.  It is nice to see the bonus maps of where these conflicts took place with regards to the actual battlefield.  That is a nice touch because often, seeing a map, you wonder how hard it will it be to read it.  I have to say, these maps are not hard to read at all.

From an armor perspective, I didn't see very many examples of armor in the pages of this book. However, from a history perspective, it talks about the units that were there and that fought. To me, that peaks my want for knowledge even more so what do I do?  I go and look up those units to see what role they might have played in the overall battle.  There are nice examples of weaponry used by both sides as well as uniform examples which comes in very handy if you want to get that right in terms of painting figures.  The Analysis chapter that starts on page 69 is really nice as that breaks down the reasons for how the Fallschirmjäger's were used against the American units that were at St. Lo.  The author, Frank Baldwin, covers the particulars of the battle and more importantly, the 29th Division action items in the section "Aftermath" which starts on page 74 of the book.  Additionally, actions by the 90th Infantry division that took place in the closing of the Falaise pocket.  The book is well written and will give you all sorts of knowledge around the struggle to free Europe after D-Day.

I thought this book was a good source of information from a very high level, with some better insights into the battles for St. Lo, Vire, the Falaise Pocket and Normandy.  The book is really well thought out with pictures and diagrams for referencing those battles which were pivotal in the European conflict after the breakout from the beachheads in Normandy. This book gives you a keen insight into the struggle by the 29th and 90th Infantry Divisions and how they fought at times for their very existence.

Highly Recommended if you are looking for library material concerning the European War in the West after the breakout from Normandy. That knowledge can lend a hand to modeling a model during those battles with marks to represent vehicles from those units.  I would purchase this book for the intrinsic value of the St. Lo and Falaise Gap struggle which is what interests me most, therefore, I am very happy to have this review sample now in my library.

Thanks goes out to Osprey Publishing for the chance to review this wonderful book.

Reviewed by GLEN MARTIN

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