ISBN 0-304-36163-1
240 pages

Introduction; photos; maps; Bibliography; Glossary; Index

   When Hitler's front in Normandy collapsed in 1944 and Allied armies surged eastward, most of the important ports in France were held by well-supplied German garrisons with orders to resist to the bitter end. The Allies needed additional port capacity, and port capacity closer to the rapidly advancing front lines, but they had few troops for the task of taking those ports, and little desire to suffer heavy casualties in doing so, especially when there was every chance the war might end in a few short weeks.
   Patrick Delaforce, the prolific author of several British divisional histories written largely with veterans' stories, turns his hand to a somewhat more ambitious project with Smashing the Atlantic Wall. After briefly assessing the fortresses and Hitler"s "secret edicts" about defending them, Delaforce covers the operations at Cherbourg, St Malo, Brest, Dieppe, Antwerp, Dunkirk, Ostend, Le Havre, Boulogne, Calais, the Scheldt estuary, South Beveland, and Walcheren Island. Altogether, this amounts to quite a number of interesting battles and provides ample opportunity for Delaforce to deliver an important tour de force.
   Unfortunately, this turns out to be a not very substantial account of the coastal campaign. Written in a nostalgic, rather superficial style, it resembles the sort of anecdotal, derivative approach to military history favored by the likes of Charles Whiting and William B. Breuer. That's too bad, because Delaforce—himself a veteran of some of these engagements—seems to have intended more for this volume. Readers looking for a quick, casual book about the fortresses won't be disappointed by the author's unauthoritative style and emphasis on a folksy sort of perspective that almost seems to be aimed at aging veterans. On the other hand, researchers and serious students will find little in the way of fresh data beyond what's already been available for years in old stand-bys. Interestingly, in the very brief bibliography Delaforce lists four of his own titles but not even the official histories by Ellis and Stacey.
   Several areas could have been improved in this account. For example, little has been written in English about the participation of the 1st Czech Armored Brigade at Dunkirk during 1944-1945 or the Free French forces which supported Allied units at the ports. Somewhat farther afield, little exists in English about the mostly French-led sieges of German-held Lorient, St Nazaire, La Rochelle, and Royan at the mouth of the Gironde. Incorporating this little-known material into the book would have increased its value considerably.
   I looked forward to this book and I really wanted to like it much more than I did. Fine for light summer reading, but not a major addition to a serious library.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Cassell & Company.
   Thanks to Cassell for providing this review copy.