Normandy 1944 (Niklas Zetterling)

review by Jonathon Fitzgerald

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I don't know where to start! This book has everything about the German Forces in Normandy that you can imagine. I myself, am most interested in the Panzers, but this book has info on EVERY German unit employed in Normandy.

The book is divided into several chapters, each chapter discusses an important topic relevant to Normandy. There are chapters on German Unit combat organization, casualties, types of tanks, combat efficiency and more. There are also several appendices. The sections I find most interesting are the sections that tell when German units arrived in Normandy. If you compare this to the section that describes the Allied Tank strength in Normandy you can see how the German Army was outnumbered.

There is also a large section that is divided into General Headquarters, Infantry and Panzer units. This section has information on every German division and independent unit employed in Normandy. I find this section very interesting as well. I am most interested in the Panzers but there is much information on many other units that is interesting and can not be found anywhere else.

Like the Panzertruppen books, this book can be difficult to read, as it is not a "story", it is information. I am the kind of person that really likes information like this, so I have no problem.

I really can not find very much to nitpick on with this book. The authour has really made a gem in this one. Just a few little things:

• One thing that I felt that could have used some work was the amount of info in each unit profile. This could have more to do with my love of details as anything else, but I find myself wanting more info on each unit when I read the profile. I really get into the book and sometimes find myself wanting more.
• Another thing that could have helped was maybe a section describing the Normandy battles. I know that most people that would buy this book would probably have an understanding of the Normandy Campaign but I feel that a section on this would help anyway to make the book more complete.
• One last thing thing that could have helped would have been an index. It is hard to go back and find things unless you can remember where it was. For doing research I really find an index helpful for searching for information.

Other than these few things this book is excellent. It is on the high side in price but I feel it is worth it because this much information in one book is almost impossible to find.

Book data

ZETTERLING, Niklas. Normandy 1944. Atglen, PA : Schiffer Military History, 2000.
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All contents written by Christian Ankerstjerne unless stated otherwise