Showing posts with label D-Day. Show all posts

Countdown to D-Day: the German Perspective

The German High Command in Occupied France, 1944

Peter Margaritis

This book's timeline is from December 1943, with a bit of a prelude, until the actual Normandy Invasion on June 6th, 1944. This is a very large book and is just over 600 pages in length. It deals with the day to day lives of the major German officers during the above six-month period. It gives the reader incredible detail into the different views of the main characters and even their personal lives.

Field Marshal Rommel is clearly the main German officer of the book. Some of the book deals with the difference of opinion between Rommel and Field Marshal von Rundstedt as to where the German panzer divisions were to be placed. Rommel, well aware of the Allied air superiority, wanted the panzers very close to the beaches of Normandy. On the other hand, von Rundstedt wanted the panzers held farther back to hit the Allies with a large, armored fist when the exact area of the landings was known. Hitler, in his usual way, made a mish mash of both plans. So, we are left to conjecture and wargaming to try and find the answer to the question - was either Field Marshal, correct?

The book follows Rommel around as he desperately tries to make Hitler's vaunted 'Fortress Europe' a reality instead of a pipe dream. Anyone interested in the infighting and actual thoughts of the German High Command before and about D-Day should read this book. The author's painstaking diary-like approach to every day during that time period is to be marveled at.

There is one caveat, at least for someone whose tastes mirror my own. That is, the book goes into too much personal detail about the characters' lives during those six months. I am not really interested in where Rommel ate lunch and dinner on March 15th, 1944. That being said, all of the juicy bits of history that I love are in this book. I just had to dig a little deeper to find them. I am also not a Rommel fan boy by any way shape or means. Had it delved more into von Rundstedt's life it is possible that I wouldn't have these thoughts about the book. On the other hand, Rommel was by far the busiest of the two commanders at the time and through his travels takes you to all of the different places on the Normandy coast. So, you may want to take my caveat with a grain of salt.

Thank you, Casemate Publishers, for allowing me to review this large, interesting book. I read for the first time some interesting things about the time and the personal tastes of the characters. I knew that von Rundstedt liked detective novels, but I did not know that he was also an avid gardener.

Robert

Book: Countdown to D-Day the German Perspective

Author: Peter Margaritis

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Big Red One at Bloody Omaha – 2 books, 2 posters & solo / 2-player game

Lombardy Studios

This is a sneak peek at a new game and two books/posters being released from Lombardy Studios. Next up is a small bio of the man himself, Dana Lombardy:

"In 1972 while still in college, I started my first game and book publishing company, Simulations Design Corporation. In 1979 I published my award-winning monster game design Streets of Stalingrad which has seen three editions up through 2002.

Since 2015 my new publishing company LombardyStudios.com has specialized in military history games, books, and magazines.

I was inducted into the Charles S. Roberts wargaming Hall of Fame in 2022.

I currently have this crowdfund project – my sixth successful crowdfund campaign – running on BackerKit:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/lombardy-studios/bloody-omaha-big-red-one-solitaire-and-2-player-boardgame

It funded in less than 4 hours.

As part of this project, there is a free downloadable print-n-play version of Bloody Omaha: D-Day Amphibious Assault™️ – a solitaire and 2-player board game:

https://lombardystudios.com/bloody-omaha-d-day-amphibious-assault-playtest/

It is not necessary to back or pledge to the crowdfunding campaign in order to download the game.

A limited number of ready-to-play copies of the printed playtest game are available here:

https://lombardystudios.com/ddayshop/

I am available for interviews and enjoy sharing my 50+ years’ of experiences in wargaming and military history.

You can view some of my seminars and talks on my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcrcXPhTPieYmTIah4FHkQg

My most recent interview was a tribute to my colleague and friend John Hill (designer of Squad Leader, Tank Leader, Johnny Reb, etc.):

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wade-gish/episodes/Dealing-In-Deadly-Games-with-Dana-Lombardy-e2g3hs1"

The following is a number of pictures showing the different parts of the game:

This is a picture of the award-winning artist Keith Rocco:

This is a link to the items of Backerkit. It also has a video to watch about everything:

Big Red One at Bloody Omaha – 2 books, 2 posters & solo / 2-player game - BackerKit

I have been told that a preview copy of the game his heading my way for perusal.

Robert

LCVP - Higgins Boat

Cobi

The LCVP (landing craft, vehicle, personnel) or simply the Higgins Boat, was the backbone of all of the invasions by the Allies in World War II. It was 11 meters long and 3.4 meters wide, and had a speed of 12 knots. The Higgins Boat was originally built with no ramp in the front of the boat. The US Marine Corps and Navy had seen the Japanese use their Daihatsu class of landing craft in the Sino-Japanese War. The Daihatsu class had a ramp in the front that dropped down. Andrew Higgins was shown pictures of the Japanese craft and with his own money built three craft for the Marines and Navy to use in trials. The boat was capable of carrying 36 soldiers or a Jeep and 12 soldiers, or 8,000lbs of cargo. Its design and light weight allowed it to drive right up onto the shore and deliver its lethal cargo. The Cobi Higgins Boat is built in 1:35 scale and was designed to be released with the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

I had mixed feelings when getting ready to build the Higgins Boat that Cobi had sent me to review. True, it is a military vehicle, but not a plane or a tank. The fact that it has two machine guns on it and was used in many great battles finally made me come around. I am now very happy that Cobi chose this vehicle to send me.

The build itself is extremely well done. It has a very smooth appearance to it and does not have holes or a missing piece here or there (I am sure you know what I mean). Actually, the Cobi sets are just getting better with each iteration. The build is comprised of 510 pieces to build it.

It was not a hard build and was done in a few hours. I took my time and did not rush through it. I wanted to enjoy the building as much as the finished project. As you can see, the attention to detail on this build is pretty amazing. It even has the track material in the bottom of the boat to facilitate driving a vehicle off it. The ramp actually works and can be shown either up or down.

The three figures that come with it are also very well done. They come equipped with a Thompson machine Gun, and a Springfield Rifle. One of them is a sailor, and he even has a life jacket. The attention to detail on the figures is also getting to be really amazing. The set also comes with two German landing Barrages. Thank you Cobi for allowing me to review another excellent block set. As I mentioned, they just keep getting better and better. I am extremely happy with the build and it now takes its place right next to the Maus in my collection.