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After the Allies had liberated Brussels and Antwerp, approached the Ardennes by mid-September 1944, their supply chain was close to collapse. Clearing the waterways was a priority and the British launched several amphibious assaults on the islands at the Scheldt Estuary. At the same time, Operation Market Garden began, and British tanks raced to relieve the besieged British airborne forces at Arnhem. With the failed operation, Montgomery concentrated on clearing the Scheldt Estuary to open up the port of Antwerp.

After the German Ardennes Offensive was halted in January 1945, Montgomery's 21st Army Group advanced towards the Rhine. Once across the Rhine, German resistance was not as stiff and the British troops rolled into northern Germany. Germany finally crumbled in May.

This is the second volume of a 2-volume series "British Tanks of WWII". David Fletcher, a noted historian from the Tank Museum, presented to us 160 photos of the Commonwealth armor in action in Holland and Germany, at the last stages of the war. Clearing the Scheldt Estuary and crossing the Rhine saw the use of many Buffalo, DUKW, and DD tanks. Interesting photos in the book include Ram Kangaroo, Sherman Crab, Churchill Crocodile, Firefly, Cromwell, Comet, Sherman V, Challenger, Archer, and even a captured Panther.

There is something peculiarly depressing about the last nine months of the war in Europe. Much has to do with the winter weather and its effect upon the landscape, but the land over which these battles were fought did not help. From the dreary, muddy wastes of the Scheldt Estuary to the gloomy. dripping Riechwald Forest everything conspired to depress. Churchill sensed it. To Roosevelt he signaled "Our British plans are dependent on yours, our Anglo-American problems at least must be surveyed as a whole, and the telegraph and tltphone more often than not only darken counsel.

British Tanks of WWII: (2) Holland & German 1944/45
Publisher: Concord Publications
Год издания: edition 2001
Armor At War Series 7028
Автор: David Fletcher
ISBN 962-361-651-1
Язык: english
Страниц: 72 pages, 160 b/w photos, 16 color plates
Формат: PDF
Размер: 32,6 mb