Angelo Caravaggio

The Canadian Army provided an Army level formation, plus a corps, two infantry divisions and one armoured division to the campaign in Normandy and North-West Europe from June 1944 until May 1945. Their involvement in the campaigns in France, the Low Countries and Germany is not as well covered by British military historians as the British contribution. Some may suggest this is inevitable, but it omits about half of the 21st Army Group from the history of this period.

Canada provided the largest Allied contingent to the 21st Army Group by some degree. Their army had seen little operational activity since the outbreak of the Second World War, hence the reason that I Canadian Corps was deployed to Italy. The Canadians also provided the forces involved in the raid in strength on Dieppe, and they lost heavily in terms of men and equipment as a result. Not only did this affect the Canadian Army formations in the U.K. in terms of the losses, but also their confidence and morale. This is why this book is so interesting and so valuable. It is an in-depth study of the Canadian armoured division that was deployed to Normandy in June 1944.

The 4th Canadian Armoured Division had not been involved in combat prior to landing in Normandy, and together with the Polish 1st Armoured Division, it was instrumental in closing the Falaise Gap from the north. It was assessed as performing poorly as a result of the delay in closing the northern side of the gap, and the General Officer Commanding was relieved of his command. This book is researched well and in-depth, and to me demonstrates how quickly this formation learned and adapted to the reality of fighting in Normandy.

There are ten chapters, plus several informative and useful appendices. In addition, there are some maps. There is a superb bibliography and useful index. In short, in my humble opinion this book is a masterpiece of a study into one formation in a short time period. It is analytical, objective, and comprehensive. I recommend it highly to any student of the campaign in Normandy in mid-1944, armoured formations in general, or the Canadian Army in the Second World War.… (altro)