The assault crossing of the River Seine by the British 43rd (Wessex) Division in August 1944 remains one of the most important operations of the closing stages of World War II, allowing General Horrocks to unleash the armor of XXX Corps on their historic dash across northern France and Belgium. Ken Ford's classic account of this critical fight across the river, originally published in 1988, is the story of one fully equipped, battle-hardened British division pitted against one much-depleted, second-rate German division. But between the opposing armies lay 680 feet of open water, overlooked by heavily fortified chalk cliffs.

"This book is an interesting examination of how a well-drilled army can successfully cope with setbacks and still achieve its objectives. The book was written while many of the veterans were still alive, and so Ford is able to include many eyewitness accounts of the action, which give it an immediacy often lacking in more modern books."—History of War