The purpose of this book is to collect, in an easily readable form, the basic technical data that concern the British army as engaged in the North-West European campaign between 6th June 1944 and 8th May 1945.

The author's aim has been to include as much information as possible, without making any claim to exhaustivity, along clear and simple guidelines. Special emphasis has been given to the organisation of units, a key element in the correct understanding of other chapters.

Those readers who have an interest in contemporary history will thus have within their easy reach a reference to data which, if frequently referred to, are rarely made explicit in historical works, to which « The British Tommy » brings but a complement.

Even though this book is not meant for their sole use, the collectors, reenactment groups, modellers or simple « militaria » enthusiasts should find here basic documents in the form of articles, which many will probably have read already, summarized from « Militaria Magazine », a specialized French publication of international renown.

The layout of these articles has been entirely updated, and a large number of unpublished material has been added.

If this handbook - as it is to be considered - should find even a modest place in the impressive bibliography devoted to the armies which fought on the same front, in the same period but, it is true, on a different scale, then this long and patient research will be fully justified.

This book is a reprint reshaped by both volumes of the « British Soldier, from Normandy to the Baltic Sea » published respectively in 1998 and 1999.