During the night of 19-20 July 1944, the I./Pz.Rgt. 24's 76 Panthers set off in a one kilometre column, with four yards between each tank. For for the veteran Panzerschutzen, this would be a new and bloody battle; for the recruits, this would be their baptism of fire. This book by Didier Lodieu - one of France's foremost specialists on the fighting in Normandy - traces the odyssey of the 1st Battalion of Panthers of the 24th Regiment of the 116. Panzer Division, just back from the East, from the first engagements in July to the crossing of the Seine at the end of August; a day by day account of the terrible fighting during the "hedgerow" war.