Michael Wittmann again ! Villers-Bocage.

Yes, it's that man again.....

More specifically, Heimdal's 'Villers-Bocage : Autopsie d'une Bataille' by Frederic Deprun & Yann Jouault ( ISBN 9.782840.483847 ), published December 2015.

Now, Heimdal have been a little naughty recently, repackaging their paperback Normandie '44 Hors-Serie numbers into attractive hardbacks. This one is based on HS # 10&11 with the addition of 6 new appendices ( which are actually quite interesting and take the book up to 256 pages ). And yes, it's in French......

When my copy arrived, my interest was piqued by the comment 'Avec la participation de Michael Kenny & Daniel Taylor' on the rear cover.......Mr Taylor of course authored the ATB title 'Villers Bocage Through The Lens' and m. kenny should need no introduction to regular members of this forum !

Anyhow, I'm limping through the book with my schoolboy French.It's a fine summing-up of all available V-B research to date and includes just about every photo taken there ( many of which are new to me ). There are colour profiles, 'then & now' pics, computer-generated photomontages ( some of which work better than others ), and much discussion of minutiae about the battle. Also included in this hardback edition is a comprehensive V-B bibliography.

It's a real treat for the Tigers in Normandy/Michael Wittmann aficionado and as always, I have a particular weakness for the colour pics of recent 'dug up' relics of the battle. One of the appendices also covers Wittmann and the Propaganda Kompanie -more interesting stuff.

So - I like it a lot. If only Heimdal would give us an English translation.......and bear in mind with these titles, they tend to be printed once and immediately go out-of-print........

 

Anything published by Heimdal is a guarantee for quality . add to this some great authors and you get a mix that's gospel. I'm sure you are enjoying every page of your French grammar decyphering attempts too. If worse come to worse , let me know and I'll give a hand to translate a sentence or two.

 

You must be a cold-hearted commander to pull this through. And Wittman was. Wonder if there is anything worth comparing with this?

 

Absolutely - I am a great fan of Georges Bernage & Heimdal, and in fact just recently I've been 'stocking up' on some of their Hors-Serie titles. Luckily, although I'm hopeless at spoken French, my I have enough vocabulary to understand the books quite well. But for me, the main thing is their indefatigable photographic research. They really seem to leave no stone unturned.

Also, Histoire et Collections seem to be almost 'out of the game' now so I feel it's almost my duty to support Heimdal.......

 

H & C out ? That would be dramatic. I have about 20 books related to their excellent uniform research. I suppose the fall of Miliataria magazine has something to do with it, as many documents the magazine were published in the H & C books. No need to convinve me to buy more Heimdal, I've been enjoying their issues them ever since I read their J. B. Frappé book about the Luftwaffe.

 

Recent H&C 'Hors Serie' have been few and far between & have been very disappointing in quality - basically re-hashes of previous titles with very poor photo captioning.

For the moment, Heimdal seems the way to go.......

 

..missed this one, thanks for the heads-up!

 

And another little heads-up ; dan Taylor's very good DVD, 'Villers-Bocage - The Truth Behind The Myth' is still available from the man himself ; -

http://www.dantaylormodelworks.com/villers-bocage-the-truth-behind-the-myth-dvd-113-p.asp

Very well-produced, it includes plenty of interviews with veterans and local witnesses, many of whom have sadly passed away since it was made in 2006.

 

The book authors are 'encouraged' to put tasters in the magazines before publication. In reality the magazine article is the re-package.

The book was all ready to go when another Heimdal book was printed which had new VB photos (La Percee Du Bocage, Jacqet) and Daniel found some obscure Tiger wreck pics hidden in the SharpshootersCollection. A quick re-jig managed to get most of them into the book.

I my memory serves me well the Panzerwrecks people have the rights for the English edition-which should be out in 2017.

 

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=151479&start=165

Great thread. So here we have Michael Kenny debating Hardigan on Axis History. Many, details abounding. A lively discourse on a great and famous subject.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cloudsley-Thompson Even Cloudsley-Thompson is pulled into the discussion.

 

Thanks for the link ! I think I'll leave the arguing to the experts - I'm just an interested spectator and as you rightly say, many interesting details emerge......

 

Glad to be of service. Indeed, that's some intense analysis. Thank you for the salute, Martin.

http://imageshack.com/i/157ergj

Those are nasty looking Crommys.