Campaign

14 primary works • 19 total works

The Rhineland 1945

by Ken Ford

Published 25 October 2000

Known as the last great 'stand-up fight' of the Second World War the battle for the Rhineland was brutal in the extreme. Eisenhower's 'broad front' policy called for the whole of the Rhineland to be taken before pushing his troops across the Rhine and into Germany itself. The Germans opened the Roer dams in a vain bid to temper this massive Allied offensive and this called for a drastic change in tactics. The ensuing battle was characterised by amphibious assaults on the fortified villages of the flooded Rhine lowlands, frontal assaults on the much vaunted Siegfried Line and the grim fighting for the Reichswald Forest. It was to be 'the last great killing ground in the west'. Campaigns 5, 24, 74 and 75 are also available in a single volume special edition as 'Into the Reich'.

Cassino 1944

by Ken Ford and Howard Gerrard

Published 30 April 2004

The battle for Cassino was probably the most bitter struggle of the entire Italian campaign. The dominating peak of Montecassino crowned by its magnificent but doomed medieval monastery was the key to the entire Gustav Line, a formidable system of defences that stretched right across the Italian peninsula. This position completely dominated the Liri valley and Route 6, the strategically vital road to Rome. Between January and May 1944 the Allies struggled amid inhospitable terrain and dreadful weather to dislodge the German paratroops that tenaciously defended the vital mountaintop. Ken Ford's book details the dramatic events of the battle to break the Gustav Line.

Caen 1944

by Ken Ford

Published 27 August 2004

The largest city in Normandy, Caen's position at the extreme left of the Allied beachhead gave it major strategic value for Allies and Germans alike. With the German defendants determined that the city should be held at all costs, General Montgomery's fight for Caen became a long and bloody battle of attrition until 21st Army Group finally took possession of the devastated city on 19 July 1944. This book describes the battle, revealing how, as a result of the British failure to take the city early in the campaign, Caen and its population were immolated - a fate for which Montgomery has been held personally responsible ever since.

Crete 1941

by Peter D Antill and Howard Gerrard

Published 25 February 2005

Operation Mercury, the German airborne assault on the island of Crete in May 1941, was the first strategic use of airborne forces in history. The assault began on 20 May, with landings near the island's key airports, and reinforcements the next day allowed the German forces to capture one end of the runway at Maleme. By 24 May the Germans were being reinforced by air on a huge scale and on 1 June Crete surrendered. This book describes how desperately close the battle had been, and explains how German losses so shocked the Fuhrer that he never again authorised a major airborne operation.

Falaise 1944

by Ken Ford

Published 25 March 2005

The battle around Falaise in Normandy during August 1944 saw the destruction of the German Seventh army; this title details the chain of events which led to the German retreat and the ensuing liberation of France. The British and American breakout battles had released motorised units to wage a more mobile war against the German static defensive tactics, and at Falaise, the armoured units of US Third Army encircled the German Seventh Army and squeezed them into an ever-smaller cauldron of chaos, crushed against the advancing British Second Army. The results were devastating: those troops able to escape the disaster fled, whilst those who remained were killed or captured and vast quantities of armour and equipment were lost.

El Alamein 1942

by Ken Ford

Published 13 September 2005

General Auchinleck, British C-in-C Middle East and commander of the 8th Army, chose to stop Rommel's advance into Egypt in 1942. The first battle of El Alamein halted Rommel's advance cold, and his attempt to resume the advance was defeated by Montgomery, forcing Rommel to wait for the Allied offensive. On 23 October, a 1,000-gun barrage launched the third battle of El Alamein. Although Rommel tried to hold the Alamein line, he had to retreat westwards when his forces were in danger of being surrounded. Never again did the Afrika Korps threaten Egypt. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the battle that turned the tide in favour of the Allies in Africa.

Leyte Gulf 1944

by Bernard Ireland and Howard Gerrard

Published 8 March 2006

Experienced naval historian Bernard Ireland has written a highly readable multi-dimensional portrait of one of the most crucial battles of the Pacific war. Described as the 'greatest sea battle of all', the battle of Leyte Gulf comprised three major naval engagements at Samar, Cape Engano and Surigao Strait. Fought on the surface, under the sea and in the air, Leyte Gulf encompassed both the latest technology of warfare as well as the last major line action involving battleships. Intended by the Japanese as a Trafalgar-style decisive victory that would neutralise US naval power, the battle turned out to be quite the opposite - a crushing victory for the United States that opened their way to the Philippines.

The Rhine Crossings 1945

by Ken Ford

Published 8 February 2007

'The last great heave of war,' according to Churchill, took place with the crossing of the Rhine in 1945. No invading army had crossed this great river since Napoleon's in 1805 and the task fell to Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group. Opposing them were the forces of a failing fascist regime, including battalions of old men and boys, strengthened by several formations of crack troops including paratroopers and Panzer Grenadiers. With an elaborate description of the combined Allied attack, second in magnitude only to the Normandy invasion, this book charts the history of the last great set-piece battle of the war that ultimately brought the defeat of Hitler's Nazi regime one step closer.

Sevastopol 1942

by Robert Forczyk and Howard Gerrard

Published 2 January 2008

In late July 1941, Hitler ordered Army Group South to seize the Crimea as part of its operations to secure the Ukraine and the Donets Basin, in order to protect the vital Romanian oil refineries at Ploesti from Soviet air attack. After weeks of heavy fighting, the Germans breached the Soviet defences and overran most of the Crimea. By November 1941, the only remaining Soviet foothold in the area was the heavily fortified naval base at Sevastopol. Operation Sturgeon Haul, the final assault on Sevastopol, was one of the very few joint service German operations of World War II, with two German corps together with a Romanian corps being supported by a huge artillery siege train, the Luftwaffe's crack VIII Flieger Korps and a flotilla of S-Boats provided by the Kriegsmarine. This volume closely examines the impact of logistics, weather and joint operational planning upon the last major German victory in World War II.

Operation Crusader 1941

by Ken Ford

Published 20 June 2010

On 18 November 1941, the British launched Operation Crusader against the Axis positions in Africa. The plan was to bring the armour of the German Afrika Korps to battle and to beat it in open warfare with the now superior strength of Eighth Army, and to relieve the isolated British garrison at Tobruk. Initially meeting with disaster, the British redoubled their efforts, fought through to Tobruk, and pushed back Rommel's Afrika Korps. Written by popular Osprey author, Ken Ford, "Operation Crusader" tells the story of the British victory that demonstrated their ability to fight head-to-head against the Germans in Africa.

The Mareth Line 1943

by Ken Ford

Published 1 January 2012

The battle of El Alamein saw the shattering of Germany's hopes for victory in North Africa and from this point on the end was inevitable. In the six months that passed before the final surrender there was much hard fighting, as the defeated German and Italian armies sought to hold off the encroaching Eighth Army. Rommel, his health suffering, fought a number of major actions during this campaign before his forces settled into the pre-war French defensive position the Mareth Line. All the way he was pursued by an increasingly confident Eighth Army under the command of General Montgomery, although he was unable to outflank the retreating German and Italian forces decisively, and Rommel was even able to divert forces to inflict a sharp defeat on the newly arrived US forces at Kasserine Pass in February 1943. This was one of Rommel's last acts in the Desert War as his health problems forced his return to Germany shortly afterwards. The stage was now set for the last great battle of the Desert War as the veteran formations of the British Eighth Army took on their foes in the Afrikakorps for one last time in the major set-piece battle for the Mareth Line.

Operation Neptune 1944

by Ken Ford

Published 1 January 2014

The story of Operation Neptune was, of course, more than just a tale of planning, building and logistics. It had action a-plenty and the emotive tales of bravery, ingenuity and determination by the crews of the ships involved brought credit to the naval traditions of the Allied nations. Battleships, cruisers and destroyers bombarded enemy positions; midget submarines pointed the way to the beaches; minesweepers worked secretly by night to clear lanes; landing craft of all sizes braved enemy fire and mines to deposit their loads on the beaches and naval beach parties endured shellfire and machine guns to bring order to the beaches. Royal Navy commandos and US naval engineers dealt with beach obstacles against rising tides in the face of withering enemy fire. Losses during Neptune and the days after the assault were quite heavy. Operation Neptune had more casualties amongst its vessels than any other naval enterprise in World War II.

Operation Market-Garden 1944 (2)

by Ken Ford

Published 17 November 2016

With Germany being pushed back across Europe the Allied forces looked to press their advantage with Operation Market-Garden, a massive airborne assault that, if successful, could have shortened the war in the west considerably. The ground advance consisted of an armoured thrust by the British XXX Corps, while the US 82nd and 101st US Airborne Divisions secured the bridges at Eindhoven and Nijmegen and the British 1st Airborne Division and Polish 1st Airborne Brigade were tasked with seizing the final bridge at Arnhem to secure the route. What they did not realise was that the 9. SS and 10. SS-Panzer Divisions were nearby, ready to reinforce the local garrison and fend off the Allied assault.

Focusing on the role played by these British and Polish troops, Ken Ford examines Operation Market-Garden in its entirety, from the early planning through to the early setbacks and eventual catastrophic conclusion.

Operation Market-Garden 1944 (3)

by Ken Ford

Published 25 January 2018

Field Marshal Montgomery's plan to get Second British Army behind the fortifications of the German Siegfried Line in 1944 led to the hugely ambitions Operation Market-Garden. Part of this plan called for a rapid advance from Belgium through Holland up to and across the lower Rhine by the British XXX Corps along a single road already dominated by airborne troops.

Their objective along this road was the bridge at Arnhem, the target of British and Polish airborne troops. Once XXX Corps had reached this bridge it would then make for the German industrial area of the Ruhr. The operation was bold in outlook but risky in concept.

Using specially commissioned artwork and detailed analysis, Ken Ford completes this trilogy on Operation Market-Garden by examining this attack which, if successful, could have shortened the war in the west considerably. Yet it turned out to be a bridge too far.

D-Day 1944 (3)

by Ken Ford

Published 17 July 2002

Gazala 1942

by Ken Ford

Published 8 May 2008

Gazala was Rommel's greatest victory in World War II (1939-1945). After a period of stalemate in the desert war, during which both the British Eighth Army and the Afrika Korps had rested and regrouped, he carried out a daring flanking movement around the strong Allied defensive position. The British command could not match Rommel's masterly co-ordination of armor, artillery and infantry, even when encircled in an area that became known as "the Cauldron", and his outstanding generalship and a timely break-through by his Italian troops enabled him to win a clear victory after 16 days of fierce fighting. However, although the strategically important town of Tobruk quickly fell, Gazala was actually a high-water mark and failure to break the British at Alam Halfa two months later was followed by defeat for the over-extended Afrika Korps by the greatly strengthened Eighth Army at El Alamein.

In this important addition to the Campaign series' coverage of the North African desert war, regular contributor Ken Ford vividly portrays the "Desert Fox" at the height of his powers.

St Nazaire 1942

by Ken Ford

Published 24 October 2001

The raid on the port of St Nazaire in March 1942 by a sea-borne task force from British Combined Operations remains one of the most impressive actions of World War II. The port lies at the mouth of the River Loire, and in 1942 as well as a U-boat base it contained the massive "Normandie" dock. Originally built for the pre-war construction of the giant Atlantic liner of the same name, the "Normandie" dock was the only facility on the Atlantic coast large enough to accommodate the German twin battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. This volume tells the full story of the raid on St Nazaire, a raid that would deny the use of the dock to the Tirpitz, and which constituted a vital step in the Battle of the Atlantic.

D-Day 1944 (4)

by Ken Ford

Published 17 July 2002

The beaches codenamed Gold and Juno constituted the western section of the British sector of the landings. This title explores the D-Day objectives for the troops landing on these two beaches, which included the capture of the town of Arromanches. They were also tasked with the capture of Bayeux and securing the coast road between Bayeux and Caen. The British 50th Division supported by 8th Armoured Brigade successfully fought their way off Gold, whilst the Canadians on Juno has a tougher time. It could not however prevent the linking of Gold, Juno and Sword on 7 June securing the British beachhead. The breakout could now begin.

Operation Barbarossa 1941 (2)

by Robert Kirchubel and Howard Gerrard

Published 25 March 2005