(Ebook) From Arromanches To The Elbe - Marcus Cunliffe & The 144th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps 1944 – 1945 by Charles More ISBN 9781526710659, 152671065X

(Ebook) From Arromanches To The Elbe - Marcus Cunliffe & The 144th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps 1944 – 1945 by Charles More ISBN 9781526710659, 152671065X

It was on 14 June 1944, D+8, that the tanks of the 144th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps began to disembark on Gold Beach as part of the Normandy landings. The men of the 144th soon found themselves in action – the start of a long and bitter campaign that would take them across North West Europe into the heart of Germany. During that advance the regiment took part in a number of important actions. These included Operation Pomegranate (Jul 1944), Operation Totalize, an innovative Canadian-led night attack which was one of the final steps to breaking out of the Caen bridgehead (Aug 1944), the siege and capture of Le Havre and the fighting in the Netherlands during late 1944. The regiment helped to push back the last big German offensive in the Ardennes – one of the few British units involved – and was then the first British unit to cross the river Rhine. By this time it was equipped with amphibious Buffaloes, and one carried the flag which had accompanied the first British tanks to cross the Rhine after the end of the Great War. Just before the end of the war in Europe the regiment helped British troops capture Bremen, and US troops cross the river Elbe.The author began to investigate the regiment’s service through his late father-in-law, Captain R.W. Thorne, who had been an officer in it during the war. As well as extensive interviews with him about the regiment and the campaign, this book draws on a variety of contemporary sources – not least of which are the archives of fellow officer Marcus Cunliffe. Cunliffe, who went on to become a distinguished British scholar and author specializing in American Studies (particularly military and cultural history), had kept a detailed and graphic diary and written a number of lively and informative accounts – all of which are now in the George Washington University in Washington DC. Unsurprisingly, Cunliffe’s work features heavily in this publication.