The popular perception of the performance of British armour in the Normandy campaign in 1944 is one of failure and frustration. Despite overwhelming superiority in numbers, Montgomery's repeated efforts to employ his armour in an offensive manner ended in disappointing stalemate. Explanation of these and other humiliating failures has centred predominantly on the shortcomings of the tanks employed by British formations. an orthodoxy has emerged that the roots of failure lay in the comparative weakness of Allied equipment, and to a lesser extent in training, doctrine and operational technique.

This new study by John Buckley challenges this standard view, placing the role played by armour in the campaign in context, and by analyzing fully the problems and difficulties encountered and the degree with which they were successfully overcome.