Each mini-guide allows the reader to get to know more about a region's history, linking historical events with places of interest and sites of note, as well as providing an unprecedented visual feast of contemporary photographs, uniforms, badges and equipment - all in full color. Practical information is included in each mini-guide and itineraries are suggested for those wishing to visit battlefields, monuments, memorials and museums. In early August 1944 the left wing of the German 7th Army collapsed following the American breakthrough at Avranches. The Americans quickly modified their plans and, instead of heading for Brittany, prepared to sweep eastwards and, in conjunction with the British, sought to cut off German forces in Normandy. Von Kluge, conscious of the danger, called upon reinforcements and launched an attack from Mortain. This counterattack, operation Luttich, should have kept the Americans at bay whilst the Germans pulled back to the Seine but its failure brought about inexorable defeat.