ISBN 0-7603-0654-0
160 pages

Acknowledgments; Foreword; photos; Notes; Bibliography; Index

   Tucked away in Normandy is a stony tract of ground called "la lande des morts" (which in English would be known as the "land of the dead"), named for a battle fought there during the Hundred Years War. Mark Bando has discovered another battle fought there, this one by the US 2nd Armored Division, which previously drew little attention in either accounts of the division or of the Normandy campaign. On the night of 29-30 July 1944, elements of 2nd Armored found themselves blocking the German escape route as thousands of men and their AFVs attempted to withdraw from the Allied bag. The result was a confused, bloody nighttime engagement of columns of Germans intent on escape versus determined American roadblocks and strongpoints. The action truly turned the ground into "la lande des morts" for a second time.
   Thanks to a chance meeting with a 2nd Armored vet during the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of VE Day, Bando was able to conduct interviews with veterans from both sides while researching the engagement and exploring the battlefield. The result is this book which focuses on a single week of the 2nd Armored in Normandy along with extensive information from the German side, the French perspective, and contemporary views of the scene of the action.
   As a result of his interviews with the men themselves or with their comrades who survived, Bando is able to build his account with many extraordinary stories of otherwise ordinary men who found themselves in the middle of the battle. Among the real-life characters caught in the melee:

   Rocky Nawrocki: Bill managed to enlist when he was only fifteen and in Normandy he was briefly captured and used as a human shield on a German tank before escaping. Although the evidence is sketchy, he might have been involved in an incident in which he shot prisoners before eventually being evacuated for combat shock.

   Christian Tychsen: The charismatic SS officer was acting commander of the Das Reich Division when killed in an ambush in Normandy. Bando pieces together the events surrounding his death and even tracks down some of the "souvenirs" removed from his uniform.

   Robert Lohr: Called "Fat Ass" by his buddies, Lohr was a 6'4", 240-pound BAR man who was seriously wounded in a firefight with Fallschirmjaegers. Evacuated from the battlefield, he was mistaken for a German because of his unusual camouflage uniform and hobnailed boots. Eventually he regained consciousness and was moved from the POW ward.

   Hulon Whittington: Sergeant Whittington was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in Normandy but was later wounded and returned to the States. Like a surprising number of the men whose stories Bando tells here, Whittington eventually took his own life.

   John Wong: "Probably the most unique troop leader in this battalion was the commander of C Company's 1st platoon, Lieutenant John Wong, a 5-foot, 11-inch Chinese American from San Francisco."

   The stories of these soldiers and many others are woven together along with an up-close-and-personal narrative of tactical operations to bring to life this little-known action. Bando looks at the battle from the perspective of the men who fought it, including details about the unusual camouflage uniforms issued to many 2nd Armored men at this time (uniforms that on more than one occasion caused them to be mistaken for German soldiers in similar camouflage smocks), the wild uncertainty of fighting unseen enemies in the night, and the hellish carnage of fighter-bomber attacks against German columns attempting to move in daylight.
   Bando also includes a great deal of information on American "souvenir collectors," photos of the troops with their booty, and post-war photos of items which have become valuable collectibles (including items taken from Tychsen's uniform). A section of "then and now" photos survey the scene as the combatants saw it in 1944 and as it appears some fifty years later. One of the interesting shots displays a vast collection of battlefield artifacts turned up by the author with a metal detector in 1995.
   Not polished to professional perfection, and woefully lacking maps, but this is a credible job which brings to life an action which was a small slice of a large war, but a huge, painfully unforgettable part of the lives of the men who experienced the night of killing in "la lande des morts."
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Motorbooks.
   Thanks to the author for providing this review copy.