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Operation TOTALIZE, Normandy, August 1944 |
"Almost from the day it ended, TOTALIZE has been the subject of debate, much of it heated, and critical comment, most of it uninformed. Now, six decades after British and Canadian armour first roared into action south of Caen in August 1944, Brian A. Reid has written a masterful study of this controversial battle that not only provides the complete historical context and a detailed assessment of its planning, preparations and execution, but also a balanced assessment of the reasons for its successes or failures. In doing so, he has also shed important new light on the death of the German super-hero, Michael Wittmann.... Destined to become a classic of the historical literature of the Normandy campaign." Donald E. Graves, author of South Albertas: A Canadian Regiment at War and co-author of Normandy 1944: The Canadian Summer. "The 8th of August 1944 was the worst day of my entire war and the enemy was not the problem. For half a century, I have hoped that one day someone would undertake a more critical examination of TOTALIZE. Brian Reid's No Holding Back does this and, to use a Hollywood idiom, chronicles 'the good, the bad and the ugly.'" From the Foreword by Brigadier-General (Retd.) E.A.C. Amy, DSO, OBE, MC, CD. "As a young troop leader in Normandy in the summer of 1944, I was, along with many of my comrades, puzzled by the way we were committed to battle. Too often, it seemed, orders were late in arriving and, when they did arrive, left us little leeway in action. Frequently, it appeared that inadequate forces were employed against strong enemy positions, and when we were committed to action, our senior officers were rarely present and communication with higher headquarters was slow and faulty. Worst of all, few of our senior commanders seemed to possess any knowledge of how to properly command large armoured forces in action. ... Brian Reid has, for the first time, answered many of the questions we young soldiers had during that long summer ... and I am most pleased that he has given the fighting troops of First Canadian Army that took part in Operation TOTALIZE the credit that is entirely due to them." Major (Retd.) W.J. McLeod, MC, CD, 4th Canadian Armoured Division, 1944. |
"A breakthrough has occurred near Caen the like of which we have never seen." This stark assessment, made by a senior German officer on the evening of 8 August 1944, was the German reaction to Operation TOTALIZE, the Canadian attack planned and led by General Guy Simonds that threatened to trap the German army in Normandy by linking up with Patton's advancing Third United States Army. Whether TOTALIZE should be seen as a success or a failure has been the subject of controversy and debate for sixty years. Certainly there was plenty to criticize in the work of senior commanders, though Brian Reid has determined that much previously written about TOTALIZE is wide of the mark. Brian A. Reid, a military historian and retired officer, has for the first time undertaken an in-depth study of TOTALIZE, including a critical examination of the part played by Allied land and air forces. He addresses the strategic situation, the background, planning and development of TOTALIZE, including the air plan, and examines the contribution of the four armies that fought and bled on the high ground south of Caen some six decades ago. He has also uncovered evidence that throws new light on the death of the "Black Baron," SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann, the top-scoring German tank ace of the Second World War, making a strong case that Wittman was killed by Canadian, not British soldiers, as has often been claimed. A landmark contribution to the literature of the Normandy campaign, No Holding Back is handsomely illustrated with maps, photographs and graphics of armoured vehicles and weapons, as well as detailed orders of battle. It is a book that will appeal to both specialists and general readers alike. |
The authorBrian A. Reid was born in Fort Erie, Ontario, and joined the regular Canadian army in 1957 as a gunner before being commissioned as an officer in 1961. During a military career that spanned nearly four decades, he served in regimental, staff and liaison appointments in Canada, Europe and the United States. His last appointment, before his retirement as a lieutenant colonel in 1994, was in the Joint Plans and Operations Staff at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. Brian Reid is the author of Our Little Army in the Field: The Canadians in South Africa and of studies in Fighting For Canada: Seven Battles, 1758-1945 and More Fighting for Canada: Five Battles, 1760-1944, and he is co-author of RCHA Right of the Line. He has also written a number of magazine articles on military history topics. He is currently working on a study of Operation TRACTABLE, which followed TOTALIZE in 1944, and on a history of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. Brian Reid resides with his wife, Patricia, near Ottawa and his interests include (besides military history) travel, cooking and Labrador Retrievers. Who was the Black Baron?Michael Wittmann, who since the war has come to be nicknamed the "Black Baron," was the Wehrmacht's leading tank ace. While he was a minor celebrity in Germany during the war, he has in the intervening years taken on almost mythic status. He was killed during the German counterattack to Operation TOTALIZE, and it had long been thought that he fell to the tanks of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. But Brian Reid's research for this book has shown that it is much more likely that the Black Baron fell to the tanks of the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment of Canada. A detailed analysis of the action appears in No Holding Back. |