Liberation of Paris 1944

When the allies closed the Falaise pocket it resulted in the destruction of most of the German Army Group B west of the Seine, which opened the way to Paris. While the allied HQ did not consider the liberation of Paris a primary objective, moreover they didn't want either a Stalingrad (Especially after knowing that Hitler wanted to completely destroy the city in the event of an Allied attack) or distract huge amounts of resources outside their main goal: the destruction of the German army, but then De Gaulle upon learning the French Resistance had risen up against the German occupiers, pressed and pressed for an assault. This book fills a nice gap in-between the end of Operation Cobra and the Lorraine campaign already covered by Steve Zaloga. It also provides an excellent military history of the liberation of Paris but is constrained by the inflexible structure of Osprey's campaign series. Zaloga does a great job of explaining how the unexpected collapse of the German Army allowed the Allies to a quick fire decision to throw away the pre-invasion plans and liberate Paris. His handling of the fighting in and around the city is solid and is as detailed as could be hoped for in a short book and is supported by excellent and well selected maps and photos. That said, the uniform structure of Osprey's campaign series, doesn't sit comfortably within this topic. This is because the fighting in this battle was mainly limited to small unit actions, the detailed 'Opposing commanders' and the 'Opposing forces' sections don't fit well in this campaign. Even though the book covers the liberation of one of the largest cities in Europe (which included a popular uprising) there's almost nothing on the experiences of French civilians during the battle and German counter actions isn't discussed, and the welcome they gave to the regular Allied military units is covered only in passing. The political issues relating to the liberation are also not covered in any real depth. Curiously, the 'Aftermath' section doesn't discuss whether liberating Paris was a benefit or liability to the Allies during the remainder of the war. All up, this is a very satisfactory and interesting military history book and is very recommended, but feels awkward with the constraints of the Osprey's campaign series format.