Caen Controversy: The Battle for Sword Beach 1944

Excellent book, clear and well written, full of information. I really appreciate all the time and research the author has put into the project. The photos (plenty of them) and maps are good too. The printing is excellent on glossy paper and a pleasure to read.I bought it to find out more about an uncle in the 77th Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers who was killed in the landings on Queen White sector, and who as his commanding officer, Capt Arthur Low, wrote to Uncle's widow "was amongst the first to land, and was killed in that first great fight to establish a foothold". The book does not mention Uncle, but does describe the actions and movements of the Assault Squadron that day, from which I can see globally what they were doing. And, in the footnotes it explains that Arthur Low's reports are in the Cass papers in the Imperial War Museum, so one day perhaps we can go there and copy them. No doubt many will want to buy this book for similar family history research.My only real niggle is that although the book is hard cover, the pages are not stitched in, they are glued. Reading it laid flat on a table has resulted in many pages coming loose.Incidentally, a month after D-day, Uncle's widow received a letter from the Ministry of Pensions advising her she would be eligible from the 25th September for a war pension of £1..12s..6d per week plus an additional 11 shillings a week for her infant son. I know there were thousands killed that day, and the cumulative bill to the government would be substantial, but individually, just over £2 a week does not seem a lot to raise a family on. Pressing on at all costs was important in the overall project plan, but for the individual soldiers and their families it obviously came with a great long term cost.

At £25, the publisher's price is very steep for the size of book; about A5 and not very thick. Even at £17, it is expensive. However, the depth of detail of the narrative is extensive, but although the main subject of the book is about the failure to take Caen when planned, none of the ten tactical maps show Caen itself. It is thus harder to follow the routes of the various battle groups as they fight their way towards their targets. A larger scale foldout map inside the back cover would have had been much easier to follow. Considering how much work Mr. Stewart has put into the research, he lets himself down in the caption to the photograph on page 99. It shows 1 South Lancs being supported by ' tanks of 13/18 Hussars '. The ' tank ' shown is an American M.10 tank destroyer. At the time, the 13/18 Hussars were only equipped with various marks of the M.4 Sherman whose turret profile was very different to the M.10. A very amateur error for a member of the Defence Studies Department. How many other errors are there in the book ?

A good book on Sword beach and a useful addition to the subject of D-Day. The bibliography is comprehensive and the book includes a selection of sources that are very relevant.This book has provided me with lots of further reading that I want to take up relating to Sword beach and the battle for Caen.

It was good to read about the planning and action of British troops on D day usually overshadowed by Us troops on Omaha and the battle for caen afterwards.

Just started reading historically interesting as my father fought at Caen

Overpriced

not yet finished reading.

Interesting read