The Rhineland 1945: The last killing ground in the West Paperback – Illustrated, 25 October 2000

excellent

A first class publication. I have a particular interest as my father was involved in Operation Veritable, as a tank driver in the Guards Armoured Division, before being wounded near Wesel.

When you have only 91 usable pages and you have to allow 30 pages for maps, photos and illustrations, an author has to dilligently select his words and topics extremely carefully if a stellar boook is to be achieved. Although Mr Ford hasn't written anything objectionable, his writting sometimes strays and is not effective to rendering a really good story. Practically every chapter has examples where he loses focus on the primary theme and writes tangential aspects which causes less space for the more crucial points of this campaign.The first chapter, "The Origins of the Battle" displays a map of the entire Western Front of Jan, 1945 when the Americans pushed the Germans back to their start line for the Ardennes Offensive. The front line extends from Amsterdam in the north to the Swiss border in the south and includes much of the German Siegried Line. Though the idea is appropriate, the author spends too much time discussing the "broad front" policy instituted by General Eisenhower. I'm not sure if this is just a matter of fact or if Mr Ford is shrewdly condemming the policy. He then wastes more time discussing the importance the German people place on the Rhine River going all the way back to Napoleonic times and even back to the Roman Empire.The next chapter is the Commanders and its done pretty well. All of the army commanders are mentioned from both sides. Five pages are devoted to this; since there are many generals (American, British, Canadian, French and German) each person is given little space. Its adequate for the barest understanding of each person. No Corps level commanders are mentioned here but will be in the action chapters.The next two chapters are the most disappointing to me. The first is Opposing Armies. There is little space allocated to this subject and much of it is given to the Allied Air Force and the Luftwaffe and definitely not enough to the ground forces. The next chapter is Opposing Plans. The plans are brief and are the most general description possible though Mr Ford does mention the southern segment of the line which includes the Eifel and Colomar Pocket. The two biggest operations, Veritable and Grenade, are very brief while Blockbuster is not even mentioned. Enough is said so that the reader will understand the objective is to reach the Rhine River.The next four chapters deal with battle action. It starts with the Canadian/British drive eastward to clear the area up to the Cleve-Goch line and then to the Rhine capturing the strongpoint city of Xanten with an eye on Wessel and Rees. This is Operation Veritable and Blockbuster. The 2-D maps of these operations are very good. The US 9th Army under Simpson begin Operation Grenade a few days later from just west of the Roer River near the Juilich-Duren sector with the intention of driving northeast to meet the Canadians near Wessel. The last battle chapter concerns the American 1st, 3rd and 7th Armies advancing eastward in the Eifel area, Trier area and the Saarbrucken area respectively. Here again the 2-D map was very good. Most of the advance was difficult but the Rhine River objectives would eventually be made. The six 2-D maps were very good and the three 3-D maps were OK. The battle illustrations were great and the photos were good.The Aftermath chapter consumes three pages and deals mostly with Operation Plunder, the actual crossing of the Rhine. Operation Plunder, the big production Montgomery makes in crossing the Rhine, will be Mr Ford's next installment in this two volume set. Two of those three pages would have been better spent elaborating on the Opposing Plans or the chapter on the US southern advance.There is a Chronology which is OK and a Orders of Battle list which was good. There is a Bibliography which contains only secondary sources. The books are good and should be read if you have any interest but it makes me think that Mr Ford allowed those authors do the hard work for him.The author spends five pages on Wargaming. I admit the chapter was good but those pages could have been better spent on the campaign.This campaign was good but it could have been better. It makes a good starting point and the suggested reading will help expand your understanding of this important time.

great book and arrived in timely manner.

Excellent study of the campaign