Volumes one and two of the ‘Restricted’ army publication: ‘Selected Intelligence Reports’ from the Office of the A C of S, G-2 First United States Infantry Division, 8vo. 128pp and 124pp. respectively. Both books bear the handwritten text on the front cover: ‘Lt. Col. Wm B Gara 1st Engr Combat Bn’ and retain their original dust jackets. These reports come straight from the estate of Lt. Col. William B. Gara, commander of the crucial 1st Engineer Combat Battalion and among the first to land on Omaha Beach. The first volume provides reports from June-November, 1944, with a preface from Lt. Col. Robert F. Evans, providing ‘a consecutive picture of the enemy operations against the First Division during the first six months of the European Campaign’. A few of the sections include: ‘Planning Stage’, ‘Establishment of [the D-Day] Beachhead’, ‘Activities of the G-2 Section’, ‘Conclusion of 1st Division Operations in CAUMONT Sector’, ‘COUTANCES Drive’, ‘Order of Battle of 2d Panzer Division’, ‘Operations in the MORTAIN Sector’, ‘Drive Towards BELGIUM’, ‘The MONS Pocket’, ‘The AACHEN Area’, ‘The Battle of HAMICH’, etc. The second volume covers the period of Dec. 1944-May 1945 and bears a preface from Major John H. Lauten, sections including: ‘LUCHEM’, ‘BUTGENBACH Ridge’, ‘Defense of the Salient’, ‘Second Breaching of the Siegfried Line’, ‘Collapse of the Rhineland’, ‘Retreat to the Harz’, ‘Unconditional Surrender’, etc. Supportive material such as photographs, maps, sketches, and lists appear throughout both volumes, identifying enemy units, prisoners taken, organization of tank regiments, troop movements during various battles, and even translations of enemy documents. Water marks and tears to the dust jackets, else in very good condition. Excellent research material! WILLIAM B. GARA (1917-2001) was an American Army Lieutenant Colonel, commander of the 1st Engineer Combat Battalion, 1st Infantry Division. Gara was a genuine war hero by any definition. He led his 700 men from North Africa to Sicily, he landed among the very first soldiers on Omaha Beach, was heavily engaged at the Battle of the Bulge, and fought into Germany until the end of the war. His most valiant service was at Omaha Beach in the initial assault fighting while they cleared obstacles where the 1st Engineers were tasked with landing to allow more landing craft to safely arrive, and continuing to clear barbed wire, mines, anti-tank obstacles and ravines, etc. from the beaches to a point a few miles inland to clear the path for infantry, tanks, and then truck transports. Under intense enemy small arms and anti-tank fire, Gara's engineers, along with elements of the 37th Engineers Battalion, opened the first and most important exit from Omaha Beach, E-1, allowing American GIs to flank the German defenses and begin their drive inland. By war's end, Gara had received two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts.