No Holding Back: Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944 (review)

No Holding Back describes the 7 August 1944 attack planned and led by Canadian General Guy Simonds and involving British and Polish as well as Canadian troops. Coinciding with Operation Lüttich, the German counterattack stopped by the U.S. Army at Mortain, and the northward shift of the XV Corps of Patton's Third Army towards Argentan, Operation Totalize set the stage for the creation of the Falaise pocket and the destruction of German forces in Normandy. While both scholars and participants have argued that a more aggressive push by the Canadian II Corps could have sealed the Germans' fate more quickly and completely, author Brian Reid makes a convincing case that Totalize was considered a success at the time and should still be regarded as one today.

As a retired Canadian army lieutenant colonel, Reid combines military experience with sound scholarship in his analysis of this aspect of the controversial Normandy campaign. Americans tend to assume they did all the fighting while the British dithered, and the roles of Canadian, Free French, and Polish forces are largely ignored. Actually, Montgomery's plan always assumed that the British would engage the bulk of the German Panzer divisions, pinning them down until the Americans broke out. This role was more than fulfilled in a series of bloody attacks throughout June and July. While Totalize did not succeed in its original objective of capturing Falaise, it did pin down the 12th SS Panzer ("Hitlerjugend") division, which was being relieved by the 89th Infantry division when the attack started.

Reid begins his study with a description of the Canadian halt after the first phase of the attack, when the road to Falaise seemed open. Instead of seizing the initiative, Simonds stuck to his plan, throwing away a golden opportunity. The author then asks the crucial question: "What happened? How had an attack that had started with so much promise achieve so little? Or did Totalize actually succeed beyond the norm for major operations by the British and Canadian armies in Normandy?" (p. 5).

The author makes the case for success. He does so not only by discussing the planning and execution of the operation, but by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the Canadian Army and its leaders. He utilizes a variety of documentary and published sources, which he carefully evaluates in both the text and detailed notes. Reid's description of the fighting goes down to the tactical level, and covers the key role of airpower as well as operations on the ground. British and Polish forces get equal treatment with the Canadians—a history of the 1st Polish Armoured Division constitutes one of the excellent appendixes, which also include orders of battle, a review of the tactical problems of the Normandy campaign, and a discussion of events surrounding the death of Michael Wittman, an ace German Tiger tank commander.

Readers will appreciate the numerous maps and diagrams that accompany the text, as well as illustrations of equipment and well chosen photographs. No Holding Back is a useful contribution to the literature of the Normandy campaign and will be of interest to both scholars and enthusiasts. This reviewer looks forward to the publication of the author's book on Operation Tractable, the Canadian II Corps' attack beginning on 14 August that helped close the Falaise Gap.