ISBN 0-85052-866-6
192 pages

Acknowledgements; Introduction; photos; maps; diagrams; OB; Index

   Just as we don't include fiction at this website, as a matter of policy we don't generally include tour guidebooks—not even guidebooks relevant to Second World War battlefields.
   Of course, rules are made to be broken, and the Battleground Europe series from Leo Cooper (these days an imprint of Pen & Sword) proves to be an exception to our general policy. The books in this series—at latest count, at least seventeen of them in the WWII portion of the series—are a useful mixture of solid historical exposition, personal recollections, and advice on touring the battlefield, and they transcend the typical "guidebook" genre.
   That's all true of the newest in the series, Gold Beach - Jig from Tim Saunders (who remains one of the stalwarts of Battleground Europe). The new book also happens to cover a part of the Normandy landing beaches where we've spent some time on more than one occasion.
   Following a perfunctory introduction with sections on "Advice to Visitors" and "Accommodations," Saunders offers a chapter on the history and training of British 231st Infantry Brigade and some information on the overall plans for the landing at Gold Beach. The second chapter covers the German side of the Channel, with an emphasis on defensive works in the Jig sector of Gold Beach and along the beach to the west. After those two chapters, the book looks in battalion-by-battalion and company-by-company detail at the actual landings and the ensuing fighting over the course of the next few hours.

   With the capture of Wiederstandnest 36 by 1 Hampshire, 231 Brigade had secured a small toehold in Festung Europa. The destroyers of the naval bombardment group kept the heads of the German defenders down, which enabled the Dorset infantrymen to move westward along the beach to their correct objective of les Roquettes. However, safe in its casemate, the le Hamel 77mm anti-tank gun was keeping the Allied armour, other than a couple of surviving Funnies from Number Two team, well to the east with its destructive fire. Thus, within minutes of the landing, separate armoured and infantry battles were being fought, rather than the closely integrated battle that had been planned.
   A Crab from Number Two Team had crossed the beach near 1 Hampshires, between WN36 and le Hamel (WN37), and had began flailing inland. The tank reached the lateral road behind the beach, and, as planned, turned right towards the village strong-points. Within ten minutes of landing, Sergeant Lindsay was in le Hamel unscathed. However, leaving the village to the south-west, he was engaging the Half-Troop Position at Cabane (WN39), when his solo advance was halted by 88mm guns engaging him from the Puis d'Herode Ridge and knocking him out. Back on the beach, it would appear that, what had been obvious paths beaten by Crabs during rehearsals for D-Day for the infantry and field engineers to follow, were, during actual battle, lost amongst shell holes and sand dunes. However, sappers of 73 Squadron RE were opening a route inland for the infantry, from the beach through WN 36, its barbed wire and surrounding minefields. This was a slow process, completed by hand, that badly held up the Brigade. The dunes around les Roquettes steadily became more congested and the situation was made worse by the arrival of the second flight of infantry LCAs. Landing at 0745 hours, in the correct place just east of WN36, C Company 1 Dorsets were disconcerted to find the strong point taken by the Hampshires. Not an A Company 1 Dorset soldier, who should have taken WN 36, was in sight, as they were, at this stage, still making their way along the beach towards les Roquettes. Meanwhile, B Company, the other 1 Dorset assault company, had elected to take a 'short cut' across the Marsh to their objective at the les Roquettes farm. This route inland took them over an hour-and-a-half to complete, all the while enduring enemy machine gun and mortar fire from the Meuvaines Ridge, as well as the sucking mud of the marsh. This explains why the Germans felt justified in holding the beach in front of the marsh so lightly.

   The next chapter covers the capture of the radar station above Arromanches and then the liberation of that town—one of our favorite places on the D-Day coast, with a nice museum and the remains of the British Mulberry harbor—to conclude the first day of operations. The next couple of chapters describe the capture of the German battery at Longues sur Mer and the commando landing at Port en Bessin. These chapters in particular are illustrated with good aerial photos and diagrams. The final chapter covers the design, construction, and use of the Mulberry at Arromanches, along with an interesting epilogue about the artificial harbor:

   In the late autumn of 1944, the Mulberry Harbour's work was completed - once the island of Walcheren on the mouth of the Scheldt had been captured and the port of Antwerp opened. Parts of the harbour were then reused or recycled. Some PHOENIX caissons were pumped out and refloated to be used to help repair the breach in the Walcheren dyke. Parts of the WHALE roadway were taken inland and used as semi-permanent replacements for the Bailey bridges, which were needed for the advance into Germany. After the war, with steel at a premium in war-damaged Europe, scrap dealers scavenged anything metal that was removable. For example one CORNCOB was refloated and taken back to Scotland to be broken up. Today, all that remains visible are the concrete caissons, twelve BEETLES and a HIPPO pontoon - remnants of a technological idea that allowed the Allies to achieve operational surprise through lateral thinking.

   Since this is, after all, partly a guidebook, Gold Beach - Jig concludes with about a dozen pages describing a "231 Brigade D-Day Tour" ranging from the landing beach to Asnelles to Arromanches to Port en Bessin.
   As with the others in the series, this is not a particularly large, ambitious, or bedazzling book, but Saunders gives us a workmanlike tour—literally and figuratively—of the 231st Brigade's actions on D-Day. Recommended to anyone interested in this part of the D-Day campaign, and especially to anyone heading to the Calvados coast.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Pen and Sword, or from the American distributor, Casemate.
   Thanks to Casemate for providing this review copy.