Amazon.com
Published to mark the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, Stephen E. Ambrose's D-Day: June 6, 1944 relies on over 1,400 interviews with veterans, as well as prodigious research in military archives on both sides of the Atlantic. He provides a comprehensive history of the invasion which also eloquently testifies as to how common soldiers performed extraordinary feats. A major theme of the book, upon which Ambrose would later expand in Citizen Soldiers, is how the soldiers from the democratic Allied nations rose to the occasion and outperformed German troops thought to be invincible. The many small stories that Ambrose collected from paratroopers, sailors, infantrymen, and civilians make the excitement, confusion, and sheer terror of D-day come alive on the page. --Robert McNamara
Book Description
They wanted to be throwing baseballs, not hand grenades, shooting .22s at rabbits, not M-1s at other men. But when the test came, when freedom had to be fought for or abandoned, they fought.
They were soldiers of democracy.
They were the men of D-Day.
When Hitler declared war on the United States, he bet that the young men brought up in the Hitler Youth would outfight the youngsters brought up in the Boy Scouts. Now, in this magnificent retelling of the war's most climactic battle, acclaimed Eisenhower biographer and World War II historian Stephen E. Ambrose tells how wrong Hitler was.
Drawing on hundreds of oral histories as well as never-before-available information from around the world, Ambrose tells the true story of how the Allies broke through Hitler's Atlantic Wall, revealing that the intricate plan for the invasion had to be abandoned before the first shot was fired. Focusing on the 24 hours of June 6, 1944, D-Day brings to life the stories of the men and women who made history -- from top Allied and Axis strategic commanders to the citizen soldiers whose heroic initiative saved the day.
From high-level politics to hand-to-hand combat, from winner-take-all strategy to survival under fire, here is history more gripping than any thriller --
the epic story of democracy's victory over totalitarianism.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent reading although highly US-centric.......2007-09-28
I read WWII books as a hobby and have read many books on the subject of D-Day. I had read Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day and was unsure how Ambrose's book would stand up to that. However, I found Ambrose's book highly readable and quite good. He has a very magic way of telling stories and interjecting the veteran's oral history in with his own story telling. For that reason, I found the book to be quite good, entertaining and informative.
However, there were two items which detracted from the overall objectivity of this book. The first was Ambrose's constant belittement of the Axis (German) forces. In many pages, he states how great we were; how bad they were; how prepared we were; how unprepared the Germans were; and on and on. If that's the case, why are there 9300+ cemetary markers in the American Cemetary in France?
Secondly, Ambrose devotes only 5 chapters to the British and Canadian forces. And, these chapters were not nearly as long as the space devoted to the Americans. If the title of the book is subtitled as The Climatic Battle of WWII, then he should have devoted MORE space to the British and Canadian efforts than what he did. Or he should have subtitled the book as The Climatic US Battle of WWII.
I think these issues take away from the overall quality and objectivity of the book.
In saying that, the book would be an excellent primer for those not well versed in this battle as he does write well. For others, be aware of Ambrose's US-centric point of view.
The Unvarnished Truth!.......2007-08-25
`D-Day' by Stephen Ambrose was an excellent book about the greatest battle of the 20th century. It was frank, candid, brutal, engaging, scary, exhilarating, massive, loud, and, I'm sure many other things. It was based on unvarnished first-hand accounts from the wounded at Normandy (compiled for the Eisenhower Center).You get the story about what really went on from the guys that were there, as well as candid insights and quotes from the high military leadership, from both the Allied and Axis perspectives. It was nothing short of a phenomenal effort of scholarship, a bird's eye view along with numerous front-line views.
I have been interested in D-Day since I first saw the movie `The Longest Day' with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. I still really like the movie and catch a little of it almost every year around the anniversary date. I also liked `Saving Private Ryan', which was a much more realistic (though harder-to-watch) version of the battle, with unforgettable beach scenes of the action. And recently, a full 20 years after his death, I even found out that my father had participated in D-Day. It was strange: he never said a word about it. My sister ordered his discharge papers on a genealogical search and that's how we found out! He was a `radio mechanic' in the Air Corps, by the way.
I would have liked to have been anywhere but there on that day, but I would have wanted to do my duty as most of the men there did. The battle plans went right out the window due to weather, inaccurate troop and materiel landings, inaccurate paratrooper drops, and a failure to take into account the omnipresent hedgerows (of all things). The incoming troops were sitting ducks that were not battle tested (some high school age) and were going against (supposedly) the best military on the planet. The courage and the carnage were at times unbelievable. The accounts of the beach action were every bit as brutal, and maybe more so, than the Private Ryan movie. Even the Allied medics treating the wounded were fair game as target practice for the Axis.. Also, in one account, an Allied landing craft leader ordered land craft off in water that was clearly too deep so he could get out of there. (I'm glad to report that his orders were disobeyed and he was eventually mustered out with a dishonorable discharge.)
The battle was won by the Allies by their innovative, creative leadership, and lost by the Axis by the rigid, moribund, top-down leadership. The Allies on the front lines simply had to regroup and improvise in real time to get to get it done while the Axis solders had to wait for decisions often from those not even on the scene, which is some cases meant Hitler himself. The scene in `The Longest Day' was correct: Hitler's need for sleep trumped the Axis need for a tank counter attack. Rommel was ham-strung because he didn't have control of the tanks, but it also must be said, he wasn't very good at defensive warfare either.
I learned some new things about the battle. For example, the attack was a major gamble for the Allies, leaving England exposed. There was no fall-back plan and the Allies were very susceptible to a counter-attack. The battle itself was extraordinarily massive and loud; over and over again that point is made in the first hand accounts. Also, there were years of planning and training right down to the level of each soldier or sailor. In the movies, it seemed that they just showed up and went at it.
I would highly recommend it for anyone with any interest in American history. It's very detailed but well-worth the read, even for a semi-buff of American military history such as myself.
Tide Of Fire And Blood.......2007-06-09
Stephen Ambrose was an opinionated, myopic self-aggrandizer who could spin a great tale and give unique perspective to the most batted-around topic. Both the bad and good sides of Ambrose are on display in his 1994 book "D-Day", published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
Reading the reviews here is like reading Ambrose himself. The bullets fly thick and fast, and sober-sided analysis gives way to nationalistic ranting. It's not that people are wrong when they say "D-Day" shortchanges the non-American story behind the Normandy landings. Actually, it is a significant failing. But the drama of D-Day itself centered on one beachhead, the Omaha beachhead attacked by the Americans, and in the airborne landings carried out by two American and one British paratroop division (a Canadian airborne brigade also pitched in). "D-Day" is not definitive, no, but by focusing on the drama it is a hell of a read.
He writes: "It was a cool night and the spray hitting the men in the face was cold, but the soldiers and sailors gathered off the Normandy coast were sweating."
So are you, especially as Ambrose makes use of numerous oral histories and interviews to give an immersive view of how D-Day went down. This is especially poignant and valuable when it comes to the attack on Omaha Beach, which Ambrose describes at great length and heartbreaking detail. For the 116th and 16th regiments, first in, the battle was akin to the Charge of the Light Brigade under the enfilading fire of German MG-42s and artillery. Companies were wiped out before firing back. The greatest contribution many would make that day would be to carry in weapons others stripped from their corpses.
Ambrose tells the story well, but can't resist making his points in neon for the sleepy reader. Telling you "someone" had to be doing something right at Omaha through all the carnage, he goes on to say: "That someone was spelled i-n-f-a-n-t-r-y."
That is not scholarship but shilling, and there is too much of it in this book. Add to that the lack of focus on America's allies that day (less than 20 pages for Juno, the Canadian beach which Ambrose notes saw the highest proportion of Allied casualties on June 6, and the farthest Allied advance). Ambrose knew his market was predominately American, and catered to it unabashedly.
Yet despite these faults, the facts are undeniable, about a generation of young Americans who had the right stuff, and how much of that stuff was left wafting in the tide off the coast of France. If it's not a rounded or definitive account of D-Day (I recommend "The Longest Day" by Cornelius Ryan), "D-Day" offers thrilling testimony to one of the great American achievements, albeit one that was part of a larger endeavor. It's like seeing those famous Robert Capa photos for the first time, without blurriness and distortion.
"Who can fail to see the beauty and sacrifice our brave lads are making?" wrote a woman to her newspaper in Bedford, Virginia just after the battle. "Because they cannot keep themselves for a day, we'll keep them forever in memory and give them immortality." Ambrose is working along similar lines, and it's hard to begrudge him his success.
Patronising and condescending - US centric account.......2007-04-18
I finished Mr Ambrose's book after starting it a year ago. I felt compelled to put it down eight times during those 12 months because of the patronising and condescending manner in which he formulated and presented his view on everyone BUT the American forces leading up to; on and post D-Day. I had hoped to present this book to my father, a former Desert Rat but felt that he would probably rage and rail against the author to the extent that he would probably 'hop his twig'.
If you wish to read this book then I would recommend it, with one proviso; read it for the anecdotal accounts of the men who were there and NOT Mr Ambrose's interpretation of how he crafted his language to pour scorn and derision on the Canadians, French and British. For he brings nothing new to light on Operation Overlord but yet has done a splendid job on including accounts of US servicemen and the tasks that were set before them.
While the publisher's have dutifully titled it "D-Day - June 6, 1944: the Climatic battle of World War II", I believe it should be fairly entitled, "D-Day: anecdotes from the US Armed Forces". That way, the publishers can solve a riddle of putting in 3 chapters out of 32 (or 45 pages of a total of 576) for the 'rest' of the nations that bravely gave their men and women to this operation.
I would give this book to my local library so they can place it next to "Saving Private Ryan" and "U-571" where America wins the war, again, again, again.
Simon and Schuster should do THEIR homework better in the future.
Disappointing, and big time........2007-03-22
The positive: The first hand accounts of soldiers fighting there.
The bad: Almost anything else, both the editing and him interjecting his own unfounded opinion, often based on nothing more then ideological opinion. Even the title is highly misleading.
I bought this book, knowing Ambrose's books about Eisenhower, and wanting to read something during a three day train-ride form San Fransisco to Chicago. I was really disappointed.
I found the book to be highly biased, and, short of the anecdotes by those involved, worthless as a serious history book. The only good soldier it seems was the American soldier, the Germans are portrayed as vastly inferior (unless complimenting them makes the Americans look better), and the other Allies are only slightly better than the Germans. It made me wonder for what reason then (if Ambrose's opinion would be true) it took the Americans so long to break out, or why they had such a hard time before (Kasserine, Anzio, Cassino) and after (Ardennes ie), with the majority of the German forces (both quantity and quality) fighting the Soviets.
Apart from ideological opinion (fighters for democracy always fight better), he presents no solid proof to support many of his notions about American (or to a lesser degree allied superiority) apart from the very obvious (more men, airplanes, ships and tanks), even though his opinion is contrary to most evidence there is (statistics, battlefield accounts etc. etc). In fact, to a degree it even seems to contradict basic American military doctrine, which focuses on the use of overwhelming firepower (air and artillery) rather then training and quality of the individual soldier.
Further, the book is seemingly devoted, when the troops finally land, to the landings on Omaha, with a little attention for Utah and virtually none for the others. Which makes the title (and the reviews on the back) highly misleading. Apart from the fact that battles like the Battle of Britian, El Alamein, Stalingrad, Kursk and most likely even Bagration would rank above D-Day as far as climactic battles go for WW II (for post WW II is another thing) even if for many men storming the beaches it was the climax after a long wait.
Writing and editing: IMHO an atrocious job was done by the editor. Ambrose repeats himself regularly, sometimes seemingly copying sections he wrote just a few pages earlier. It becomes really annoying, and distracting. And therefor it takes away from the stories from those who fought there.
In the end, I found it more interesting to watch the Nevada desert or the Great Plains between Lincoln, Nebraska, and Chicago then read another page. And I doubt I will ever find the desire to finish it.
Book Description
Omaha Beach saw the greatest drama and loss of life on D-Day and was critically important to subsequent Allied total victory in World War II. In this gripping new book, historian Joseph Balkoski tells the story of June 6, 1944, when largely untested American troops assaulted the German army's Atlantic wall. Equal parts oral history and meticulous reconstruction, including the invasion's diplomatic and strategic context, Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Normandy landings firsthand. A fitting tribute to the veterans as well as an engaging narrative, it promises to become a classic on one of America's, and indeed, the world's, most important days in history. This brilliantly researched and engagingly written comprehensive history of this momentous battle includes many never before published first-person accounts by the men who were there, many given within days of the invasion! Also included are comprehensive lists of all Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross winners at Omaha Beach as well as: ù the Order of Battle ù casualty list for the first twenty-four hours ù organization of a 30man assault boat ù weapons and equipment carried in the assault by a typical soldier and a series of detailed maps allowing the reader unparalleled insight into the minute-by-minute combat on Omaha Beach.
Customer Reviews:
Understanding Omaha.......2007-04-05
I read the book several years ago, just prior to visiting the Normandy Beaches. Bought it to have my own copy and read it again. The book's great strength (drawback for some readers, maybe) is its huge volume of detail. It is thoroughly researched; written with clarity; tells the story fully. The human side of this Day In History is also illustrated in meaningful detail; descriptions of unbelievable heroism are numerous; only three Medals of Honor were awarded;many DSCs. Issue: General Cota should have received the Medal of Honor; saved many lives; inspired leadership. A really fine and exciting book.
A Great Book.......2007-04-03
I am not going to go on at length since there are already some well written reviews here. I just wanted to add my vote that this is a great book. I think it is the finest book on Omaha written, including Ryan's and Ambrose's. I also recommend Bernage's work for the graphics and photos.
A Great Description of Omaha Beach That Takes You There.......2007-03-27
This is a great "you are there" description of D-Day on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Joseph Balkoski has done an excellent job of presenting the official and personnel accounts of people who were there that longest day of the war. The descriptions by the veterans take you into the landing craft, onto the beach, and up and over the bluffs that overlooked the beach. His telling of the story dispels the usual belief that the soldiers were stuck on the beach all day and only got off the beach near the end of the day as depicted in the movie "The Longest Day".
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a real detailed story focused on this one beach of the D-Day invasion. I would really recommend it to someone who is a wargamer such as myself since reading the stories makes me want to recreate these small firefights as well as the overall battle. I am sure there are many people who feel that way.
Balkoski's style of telling history is very well done and he has done an excellent job of bringing the materials together so that others can follow in the footsteps of the brave men of that day.
I can't want to read Utah Beach!
Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing And Airborne Operations On D-Day, June 6, 1944
A Great Historical Resource.......2006-12-14
Joseph Balkoski's book on Omaha Beach is a great historical resource like his book Utah Beach. Omaha Beach tells the story of when largely untested American troops assaulted the German army's Atlantic wall. This is a great read covering the events of the day almost minute by minute. It reads like a great documentary. This is not written in the format of a memoir. Balkoski relies mainly on primary sources such as after action reports, unit journals, and citations to create his blow by blow narrative. He includes the invasion's diplomatic and strategic context. Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Normandy landings firsthand.
Sprinkled throughout the battle account are the accounts of those in the battle. It is a classic. It is a must for any D-day library. It also included comprehensive lists of all Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross winners at Omaha Beach. It has: the Order of Battle, unit casualty list for the first twenty-four hours, unit organization of a 30man assault boat unit weapons, and equipment carried in the assault by a typical soldier, and a series of detailed maps allowing the reader unparalleled insight into the minute-by-minute combat on Omaha Beach.
Best ever Omaha Beach book!.......2006-12-03
I decided at first to write a long review of this book, but upon reading the other reviews here I trimmed my review to simply this...
I own and run a battlefield touring company in Normandy and have read many many books on the fighting on Omaha Beach on D-Day. There is no better book than this one, that's it it's absolutely the definitive book on the subject. The author has lived overlooking the beach, he's from Maryland - home of the 29th division and he has studied the units involved for thirty years. This book will never be bettered. I cannot sing its praises loudly enough.
Amazon.com
John Keegan's innovative approach to the invasion of Normandy correctly observes that the invasion, while colossal, was merely the beginning of a series of furious battles in northern France, and Keegan accordingly tackles not only the actions of June 6, 1944, but the subsequent Normandy campaigns by five Allied nations and their German opponents. Focusing on specific actions, such as the U.S. 101st Airborne night drop into France and the British infantry battles surrounding the city of Caen, he provides an exciting chronological account of the action in Normandy with considerable depth about tactical decisions.
Keegan is a skilled writer and his battle accounts are stirring. But beyond the vivid battle stories, this is also a book that will engage intellectually those who study battles and tactics, as well as the diplomatic activity that was necessary for the Allied victory in the Second World War's European theater of operations. --Robert McNamara
Customer Reviews:
Modern Classic.......2007-10-10
There are a lot of books on D-Day. The best known is "The Longest Day." Stephen Ambrose and Carlo D'Este have also produced important works. This book is a modern classic that ranks right up there with the best of them and there is a reason. It is an easy read and Sir John Keegan offers new ways of looking at the Normandy campaign.
Keegan is an extremely talented historian and journalist and has the credentials to write this book. He taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before becoming the defense editor at "The Daily Telegraph."
His book focuses just not on D-Day itself, but on the campaigns in Normandy where combat determined the success or failure of the cross-channel invasion. This effort was the product of six national military traditions that had armies fighting in northern France at this time: France, Poland, Canada, Britain, and the United States on the one hand, and Germany on the other. Keegan is much better in discussing the traditions of the three English-speaking armies, but his account is a good corrective to popular accounts that focus just on the Americans and, to a much lesser extent, the British. His focus is broad and he shows that events elsewhere (like the July 20 plot on Hitler's life) affected events in Normandy.
Keegan is also more than willing to challenge widely held beliefs. He shows that the allies quickly broke the German defense on the beaches on the first day of the battle. It was the professionalism of the German Army, many times despite the behavior of Hitler, that contained the allies in Normandy for week after week. Even though he is British, Sir John is more than willing to criticizes Montgomery's behavior in front of Caen.
His account culminates with the liberation of Paris, making this book a history of a campaign rather than of a battle or of the D-Day landings. Make it part of your library.
Excellent overview of allied campaign from invasion to Paris.......2007-09-06
One of the best books on its subjects and one of John Keegan's best. A true classic in military history.
Great history, great reading.......2007-01-03
Dr. Keegan is a billiant storyteller with a particular ability to give us the soldier's view of important events. In this ground-breaking work, he gives us the view with thoughts on the national cultural background of the armies at Normandy. How the national identify/culture affects the way those nations fight wars is an intriguing topic and an entertaining one when Dr. Keegan applies that thought to a particular series of events in the greatest battle of the greatest war in the 20th century. It is an enjoyable read and a must have for anyone interested in the military history of the second world war.
very hard to read, lost interest .......2005-02-05
This is the worst WWII book I have come across.
fun, with fascinating digressions, but not really complete.......2004-05-10
This is less of a comprehensive history of the Normandy invasion and its aftermath, and more of a series of fascinating essays on aspects of the action. Keegan happily goes off on a series of digressions about Canadian and Polish and French military history, and mini-bios of all sorts of figures, including Stillwell, who was on the other side of the world when Normandy went down. It's all riveting, and well worth the read, but if you're strictly interested in what happened during the battle, you might be a little disappointed.
Further, Keegan doesn't go out of his way to make this accessable. The book is full of references to British military history -- I'm not sure that comparing Normandy to Waterloo and the Balaclava (The Charge of the Light Brigade, et al) really helped me very much. Keegan is the kind of guy who'll mention _le Serment de Koufra_ rather than simply refering to an earlier description of Leclerc's speech at Kufra.
Finally, the feel I get from Keegan is that the British did the Americans an awfully big favor by allowing them to equip and accompany the British and French and Canadians and Polish on this big adventure. This isn't a real big deal, and it is probably a useful antidote to some of the more nationalistic US histories, but it still struck me as an odd note.
All in all, this is a really fine book that goes well beyond simply laying out the actions of the units involved, and manages to give some insight into why they took those actions, based on the histories of both the units and thier leaders.
Book Description
This brand new large format book from Michel de Trez contains not only hundreds of never before published period photographs taken at Ste-Mere-Eglise early June 1944 but also numerous color pictures of equipment and uniforms that fought for the liberation of Ste-Mere-Eglise.
This includes General Matthew Ridgway's famous helmet and Dick Winters' D-Day equipment. (the later jumping very close from Ste-Mere-Eglise).
Michel de Trez's books have rightly earned a worldwide reputation for excellent, highly detailed content and spectacular presentation of the subject matter.
Previous books by Michel include: 'American Warriors', 'At the Point of No Return' and 'First Airborne Taskforce' (in large hardback format and 'The Way we Were' series of 8.50 x 11 paperbacks, including books on Doc McIlvoy, Ben Vandervoort, Forrest Guth and Bob Piper. All these books are also available exclusively from Casemate.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Photographic study.......2007-02-17
Let's be honest many narrative books about WWII have a lack of photos, so if you're looking for hundreds of good quality photos of American Airborne troops in Normandy - then this is the book for you. Unlike the tiny inch-square photos of some books, here Michel De Trez spares no expense in sharing with us large 10 x 8 style photos of men in and out of combat. You can see the fear and exhaustion in the GIs faces and for the militaria freaks there are great close-up shots of uniforms and equipment details. Many of these are rare archive shots from the authors private collection you won't see elsewhere.
However if I was being really critical, personally I would have liked to see some of the more repetitive shots omitted from the book. There are some series of several photos taken from moving footage of the same group of soldiers where perhaps just one photo would have been sufficient. Also longer captions would have been nice. But that's me being a perfectionist, as a working battlefield guide this book is a very useful and fascinating glimpse at an era in history I missed by being born 30+ years too late!
Book Description
Concise history of the Allied campaign to liberate Northwest Europe during World War II
Places the campaign in the war's broader context
Casts new light on some familiar subjects and recounts many neglected issues
This study describes not only what happened from the D-Day landings in June 1944 to the surrender of Germany eleven months later, but also why it happened. While an enormous amount has been written about this campaign, most of it focuses on a single army or an individual battle. Levine stresses a truly integrated approach that combines both strategy and tactics and covers the land, sea, and air efforts of both Allies and Axis. Levine deals extensively with the German side, particularly morale issues, and he includes the role played by Canadian forces--a topic usually neglected in American accounts.
Customer Reviews:
Solid historiography.......2007-08-03
Alan J. Levine's `From the Normandy Beaches to the Baltic Sea: The Northwest Europe Campaign, 1944-1945' is an solid synopsis of the year the Western Allies spent in NW Europe at the end of the Second World War. Levine provides not only historically correct information but also insightful commentary where controversy or question still lingers. This is a fine piece of historiography worthy of a read not only by `academic types' but also those who want a good primmer to this period of WWII. `From the Normandy Beaches to the Baltic Sea' is not flowery or `popular' style writing; while Levine is clearly a solid writer. If you want your history a la Ryan or Ambrose style, this is probably not for you. If you're looking for first-person accounts; this is not the book for you. If you want small unit history; this is not the book for you. However, if you want a good top-down (to mid level command) look at the progress of the war in NW Europe (with connected political events and Soviet coordination of events on the eastern front) this is probably a book worth tracking down. Praeger Press is an academic press that really targets libraries rather than mass populace, thus purchasing a copy of `From the Normandy Beaches to the Baltic Sea' is probably not an option for most. However, this is a book worth tracking down a copy of at your local library or via an interlibrary loan. At just over 200 pp. of formal text, Levine's book is a 4.5 star effort, great for the serious, and good for the casual reader.
[This review is based on the original Praeger Press printing of this Stackpole production]
Book Description
In this unforgettable narrative of D-Day, Joseph Balkoski describes the minute-by-minute combat as it unfolded on Omaha Beach, allowing soldiers to speak for themselves as they recall their attempts to maneuver bombers through heavy cloud cover, the claustrophobic terror aboard transports, and the relentless fire that greeted them on the beach. Equal parts oral history and meticulous reconstruction, Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Normandy landings firsthand.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Historical Resource.......2006-12-14
Joseph Balkoski's book on Utah Beach is a great historical resource. This is a very good read covering the events of the day almost minute by minute. It reads like a great documentary. This is not written in the format of a memoir. Readers who love first person hubris memoirs may find it lacking action.
Balkoski relies mainly on primary sources such as after action reports, unit journals, and citations to create his blow by blow narrative. Sprinkled throughout the battle account are the accounts of those in the battle. It is a classic. It is a must for any D-day library.
Great introduction to Utah Beach.......2006-09-03
Already having a general knowledge of WWII history, this book was a good starting point for my study of Utah Beach. I found it to be a clear, and very engaging read, detailing the Allied invasion. As the previous reviewer commented, this book does lack full detail on the German perspetive. This may affect the completeness of the book, but I don't see it as a major problem to the reader. I would expect anyone researching Utah Beach to rely on more than just a single book. I'm confident that I will learn more of the German experience as I continue to read other sources.
Excellent Book on the "Day of Days".......2006-02-20
This is an excellent book on the "Day of Days" as coined by the film "Band of Brothers". This book fills out what the rest of American paratroops and Utah beach landing beach troops did on this day. Only one page is provided on Easy Company. And, what a story it is! General Teddy Roosevelt walking Utah Beach with a cane and leading the troops ashore, thereby winning a Medal of Honor. The officers and troopers of the 82nd airborne taking Ste. Mere Eglise and holding it against numerous German counterattacks. The holding of the bridges over Meridet River (shades of Saving Private Ryan although this story is accurate), stopping a tank attack with a bazooka. The capturing of the four causeways from Utah Beach by the 101st airborne allowing the Utah beach landing troops of the 4th Division to break through. There are many fascinating stories supporting this outline of the events. Yes, this was the Day of Days and this is a great book describing it. A great addition to the author's other great book on Omaha Beach.
Companion to Omaha Beach.......2006-01-07
This is the author's other book on June 6 covering Utah Beach. Another excellent job with detailed coverage. A great companion book to Omaha Beach.
Good, but offers Primarily US Perspectives.......2005-10-23
Joseph Balkoski, a historian for the Maryland Army National Guard, is an expert on the 1944 Normandy invasion, as he demonstrated years ago in Up From the Beachhead. However, the US landings on Omaha Beach have tended to overshadow the equally important landings on Utah Beach as Balkoski notes, "the near disaster and shocking casualties on Omaha Beach have tended to dominate historical accounts of the American D-Day experience." In his latest volume, Utah Beach, Balkoski sets out to redress this imbalance. Balkoski covers both the V Corps landings on Utah as well as the supporting airborne assaults by the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions in great detail. In addition, Balkoski corrects some of the errors and misconceptions about Utah Beach that have appeared in both the official history and General Bradley's memoirs. Overall, this volume is a very good effort (although it lacks the incisive comment that made Up From the Beachhead such a valuable contribution) but it does suffer from a lack of German accounts and this is essentially a story told primarily from the US perspective.
Utah Beach consists of 11 chapters, four of which cover the development of the plan up to the movement to Normandy. Nine appendices cover US casualties, order of battle and post-battle awards. In chapter five, about one-third of the way through the book, the US troops begin arriving in Normandy. Balkoski weaves together first-person accounts and bits and pieces from various unit histories to provide a rich narrative on the US airborne landings and subsequent amphibious landings on Utah Beach. To be fair, many of these accounts appear in other books as well, but Balkoski also adds coherence to a very complex operation that other accounts lack. The narrative is also enhanced by two dozen maps that greatly clarify the tactical situation on an almost hour-by-hour basis.
Unfortunately, Balkoski's narrative provides very little from the German perspective, which substantially reduces the value of this book. The omission of German sources is particularly glaring given that a number of other D-Day books written in the past few years have added a great deal to the understanding of German actions on 6 June 1944. Indeed, Balkoski never even takes the time to discuss the actual German resistance nests on Utah Beach, even though forty years ago books by Paul Carrel and Cornelius Ryan both included accounts from the German W-5 nest. Although one of Balkoski's objectives in this book is to expose the inaccuracy of Bradley's statement that the landing on Utah Beach was "a piece of cake," his glossing over of the actual reduction of the German resistance nests on the beach does not support this goal. Nor is it only German sources that are missing from this book. In discussing the airborne drop around Ste. Mere Eglise, Balkoski fails to mention the inadvertent drop of a couple of paratrooper sticks in the town square, their subsequent massacre by the German garrison and Private John Steele's famous hang-up on the church steeple. Indeed, Balkoski never really mentions what happened to the German garrison in the town and merely notes that six paratrooper corpses were hanging in trees when US forces occupied the town.
Reading Balkoski, one gets the impression that the Germans had the means to crush the Utah landings were it not for the efforts of the airborne troops, but this is highly debatable. The Germans were unable to mount any significant counterattacks on D-Day until toward the end of the day and none of these were more than regimental-size. Although Balkoski mentions the German 6th Paratrooper Regiments counterattack against the 101st Airborne, he does not note that this attack cost the Germans the bulk of one battalion. Balkoski is also incorrect in assessing that the US forces were able to breach Hitler's Atlantic Wall on Utah Beach in less than two hours. The Atlantic Wall did not merely consist of the various bunkers and obstacles on the beach itself, but included all the pre-invasion defensive measures in the area, such as the flooded areas that bedeviled US operations in Normandy for days after D-Day. Furthermore, although V Corps punctured a one-mile wide hole in the German defenses at Utah, the march on the eventual goal of Cherbourg would have to push through several belts of coastal defenses around that city. Lately, it has become de rigueur for US historians to condemn the Atlantic Wall as worthless, but the fact is that weakness of German forces in France necessitated such measures and by and large, these measures did cost the Allies time and casualties (these critics ignore the fact that had the Germans possessed more air and tank reserves, the obstacle belts would not have been so easy to breach).
One of the best aspects of this book is that Balkoski includes virtually everyone who participated in the invasion in this sector, including troop carrier crews, the Special Engineer brigade, various corps attachments, the US Navy and even the usually-ignored 90th Infantry Division (which landed a few battalions late on D-Day). As Balkoski notes, the usual claim in the official history that US losses on Utah on D-Day were "fewer than 200" is incorrect since that only included data from the 4th Infantry Division, not the myriad of supporting units. Throughout D-Day, German mines and artillery fire inflicted serious casualties on the packed US units on Utah Beach and surrounding areas. Furthermore, Balkoski notes that when airborne casualties and naval casualties are factored in, the landing on Utah cost a similar number of casualties to Omaha. Overall, Balkoski's latest book is well worth reading for the valuable perspectives that he provides, but the inherent limitations in a book that focuses primarily on the US viewpoint on one day of a 90-day campaign put this book in the "do not use without consulting other sources" category.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent Anecdotal Account Of The Canadians On D-Day
- A people's history of the Canadian effort at D-Day
- The story of the Canadian contingent on D-Day
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Juno: Canadians at D-Day June 6, 1944
Ted Barris , and
Theodore Barris
Manufacturer: Thomas Allen & Son
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0887621333 |
Book Description
On June 6, 1944, nearly 15,000 Canadians - at sea, in the air, and on the ground - joined the long-anticipated D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe on the Normandy beaches. The piece of ground on which the Canadians fought so hard against heavily armed and embedded German troops was codenamed Juno. On that day, the Candian infantry fought their way farther inland than any other Allied troops. For Canada, and all Canadians, this was a coming of age, an extraordinary moment of courage and sacrifice. On the eve of the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Barris takes us back to those momentous few hours that forever changed the course of our history in the voices of those who were there. In what might be described as Canada's longest day, we follow the course of action hour by hour, minute by minute, as we meet and follow the soldiers who leapt off landing craft into the shallow waters off Normandy, who were strafed by machinegun fire before they could even reach the shore. We meet the airmen who flew fighters and bombers in the early hours of the summer morning, as well as the sailors who manned the guns of the ships offshore. Ted Barris has interviewed hundreds of veterans to piece together one of Canada's proudest days, and one of the most significant battles of our time.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Anecdotal Account Of The Canadians On D-Day.......2007-09-22
There have been several books written by Canadian authors which include detailed accounts of the Canadian effort at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. And, almost without exception, they raise the incident at Abbaye d'Ardenne on June 7 when 23 Canadians, taken prisoner by the 12th SS, were summarily executed. This one is no different as author Barris relates the tale of Bert Thistle, one of a few who escaped execution thanks to a literally last-second intervention of a senior German officer.
All the accounts also mention the arrest, after the war, of Kurt "Panzer" Meyer, the SS commander, his trial and death sentence, followed by commutation and a relatively brief imprisonment and then release, some lamenting the lenient treatment for so heinous a crime perpetrated under his watch by his troops.
But none that I have found have ever mentioned an incident that took place the day before, during the height of the opening engagements, one that Cornelius Ryan related in his epic account of the historic invasion - The Longest Day. Says Ryan "Able Seaman Edward Ashworth, off an LCT which had brought troops and tanks in to the Courselles beach, saw Canadian soldiers march six German prisoners behind a dune some distance away. Ashworth thought that this was his chance to get a German helmet for a souvenir. He ran up the beach and in the dunes discovered the Germans "all lying crunched up." Ashorth bent over one of the bodies, still determined to get a helmet. But he found "the man's throat was cut - every one of them had had his throat cut," and Asworth "turned away, sick as a parrot. I didn't get my tin hat."
Now, if THAT account was blatantly untrue in so famous a book, there would have been denials from every quarter in Canada. But not only have I never seen a denial, I have never seen it even remotely referred to anywhere else. Nor was the episode part of the film that followed the book.
So, assuming it's true then, I have often wondered if word had not somehow reached the German reserves rushing to the front, including the 12th SS, that the Canadians were not taking prisoners. The murder of those six soldiers may have been seen by other German troops, perhaps prisoners themselves who later escaped in the mass confusion of the day [many did - on both sides].
This is certainly not meant to excuse the actions of the SS - they needed little provocation to commit crimes - but with emotions running high in the heat of battle could the murder of the six prisoners have somehow sealed the fate of some of the first Canadians taken prisoner the following day? Unfortunately author Barris, while mentioning the Abbaye d'Ardenne incident and some other similar SS crimes, makes no reference to that opening day Canadian crime.
But what he does do is provide some fascinating insight into the men [and women] who took part in that monumental effort at Juno Beach both directly and indirectly - infantrymen, artillery and anti-tank gunners, tankers, bomber, glider, and fighter pilots, airborne troops, naval personnel, journalists who landed with the troops, and nurses.
Amidst 22 pages of photographs, you discover how Canadian journalists and film makers "scooped the world" - how Canadian troops made the farthest inland advance, and their interactions with French citizens, especially by those from the French-Canadian regiments involved. I just wish Mr. Barris had either refuted the Ryan account mentioned above, or acknowledged it in some way if only to show that atrocities were not confined to the other side.
A people's history of the Canadian effort at D-Day.......2007-05-17
There is a growing and very popular segment of history books that are "People's Histories", wherein the author interviews or culls the diaries of the men (and, if applicable, women) involved in an historic event. The gathering of these stories, either by chronology or by type (one chapter for the navy, one for the army, etc.) in a coherent and enjoyable fashion is then the primary focus of the author. Perhaps the most popular author of this type (especially of WWII material) is the American Stephen Ambrose. Luckily for Canadians, Ted Barris has stepped up to fill the gap with this memorable and eminently readable people's history of the Canadian efforts on D-Day.
Barris groups his stories by type - as mentioned by another reviewer, there are interesting chapters on much-neglected members of the war effort - the service corps and the journalists. There are also, of course, ample numbers of stories from paratroopers, naval gunners, and the average grunt thrust onto the beaches and into withering Nazi firepower. No Canadian D-Day commentary would be complete without a chapter devoted to Dieppe, and some of the most interesting (to me) passages are actually about that failed raid. Another impressive aspect of this book is the sheer number of primary interviews that Barris conducted - this is like the primary literature for Canadian D-Day soldiers. Finally, the section on the creation and dedication of the Juno Beach D-Day centre was interesting and informative, and is likely not well-known even to Canadians (unlike the enormous WWI monolithic memorials at Vimy Ridge and Ypres).
Although Barris concetrates on the stories, like any good Canadian author he emphasises the size of the Canadian commitment to D-Day: Juno Beach was attacked almost solely by Canadians, there was a large Canadian naval presence, and Canadian paratroopers attached to the British 6th Airborne. Unfortunately, he completely ignores the Free Polish Brigade and the British Commandoes attached to the Juno Beach task force. While the number of Canadians as a percentage of the Allied effort would fall precipitously is the months that followed, it was because Canada sent ashore numbers of troops well in excess of its proportionate population on D-Day.
Unfortunately, if the author emphasises the efforts of the common soldier, it is to the detriment of a cohesive overall picture of the battle and the war. Unlike the classic book on D-Day, "The Longest Day," there is no detail on the German forces opposing the Canadians at Juno. Similarly, the stories are almost all from enlisted men, non-coms, and very junior officers. Where is the information about the generals? Or even the majors? Granted - Barris would be unlikely to find living D-Day generals, but surely they left behind diaries and dispatches. For a more strategic (and a really good) read about D-Day and Juno Beach, I would recommend John Keegan's "Six Armies in Normandy," which has a large section on the Juno Beach attack, written in a more analytical and coherent way. There is certainly a market for books like Barris's, and I enjoyed this one, but I prefer a more traditional approach rather than the people's history approach.
The story of the Canadian contingent on D-Day.......2004-06-07
It's fitting that I write this review on June 6, 60 years to the day after one of the greatest invasions of our, or any other, time. June 6 is, of course, D-Day, the day where the Allies put 130,000 troops onto the shores of Normandy against the withering fire of a firmly entrenched German army. No one who wasn't there can truly imagine the horrors of that day, the courage involved or the determination that resulted in the final Allied victory, the first of many to come before Hitler's war machine was finally destroyed for good. Five beaches were stormed that day: Omaha and Utah beach by the Americans, Sword and Gold beach by the British, and Juno beach by the Canadians. Often, the Canadians are bunched together with the British, and thus do not get the recognition that they so deserved. Roughly 15,000 Canadians put ashore that day. Almost 1,000 were casualties by the end of the day. Juno: Canadians at D-Day, by Ted Barris, is their story, finally out in the open.
We were not there, so we cannot imagine the terror or the will to get past that terror as bullets ricochet around us. Ted Barris does the next best thing, however. He talks to the people who were there. Juno: Canadians at D-Day is nothing but remembrances either given to the author by those who were there, or culled from their diaries. Each chapter is divided into sections where the events are told by one man or another, time-stamped to give the reader an idea of when these events took place. This technique does give the book a scattershot feel that isn't always the easiest to follow, as Barris jumps around both in time and space, from 6:00 am that morning to 12:00 am the night before, from the beach to the villages where the paratroopers dropped, and even back to England where we get the air crews' stories. Barris covers everything, from some French villagers to the crew of minesweepers responsible for clearing a path through the minefields and onto the beach. Yes, it is disjointed, but it also adds to the personal feel of reminiscence that the book gives. Normally, I don't like disjointed narratives, but this was an exception. It kept me captivated, and each section was brief enough that it didn't wear out its welcome before moving on to something else. Barris returns periodically to some of the men, so the book does not gloss over their stories. It just tells them in its own way, like veterans passing war stories around the table.
Given the way the Canadian story is often glossed over, the book shares many facts that aren't necessarily common knowledge. The Canadian troops were responsible for the deepest penetration by the end of the first day ashore. A company of Canadian paratroopers dropped with the British and were responsible for destroying every bridge that they had set out to destroy, in order to slow down any German counterattack. And one of the most famous pieces of newsreel footage from the invasion was shot by a Canadian, Sergeant Bill Grant. He had his camera rolling as the landing ramp crashed down and the troops jumped into the water. It was shown in movie houses in Britain, Canada and the United States, though sadly in the US it was never stated that these were Canadian troops being shown. Barris has provided quite a service by highlighting a part of this day that never makes it into the spotlight.
This is not to say that the book doesn't have its faults, however. Barris spends a bit too much time talking about the journalists involved, bringing the story back home. While their role was important, I think Barris gives them more time to the detriment of other stories that could have been told. He even quotes one journalist complaining about how other journalists make too much of the story about themselves, how much hardship they had to go through to get the story, instead of giving the story of the troops on the line. I wish Barris would have taken that a little more to heart.
There are two things included in the book that really make me sing its praises, however. The first is an entire section from the point of view of the "service guys." These are the men who were responsible for logistics, for keeping the army moving as efficiently as possible. While they were never on the front lines (they did occasionally get shelled, however), they did their job with aplomb. It's nice to see some recognition for the little guys.
Secondly, the final chapter tells the story of the Juno memorial, dedicated on June 6, 2003. A lot of time and effort was made by both veterans and their families to get this memorial built on land donated by the village of Courseulles-sur-Mer, which is right behind Juno. Commemorative bricks were sold to raise money as the cost swiftly rose from several hundred thousand dollars to $11 million. They succeeded, and Barris details not only their efforts, but the results of those efforts. The commemoration ceremony on that day was very touching, and I have to admit that I had tears in my eyes as I finally laid the book down. Barris has succeeded in his aim to personalize the Canadian story of D-Day. Even if you think you're familiar with what happened on that fateful day, you owe it to yourself to pick this book up.
David Roy
Average customer rating:
- Overlord D-Day, June 6, 1944
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Overlord-D-Day June 6, 1944
Manufacturer: S&S
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HZAZ62 |
Customer Reviews:
Overlord D-Day, June 6, 1944.......2007-02-14
I have studied WW II for over 50 years and read every book I could find on the subject. This is the first book that has tried to convince me that the Germans had the finest army, leadership, and equipment during the war. All the allies, with the exception of a few units, were blundering fools. The only allied leader who knew what he was doing was Montgomery, and his commanders and troops let him down.
Patton and the 3rd Army had a walkover, only facing second rate units, I am sure those men will be surprised to learn that fact.
I was under the impression that the allies won the war.
I rate this book as 1, only because 0 is not allowed.
Book Description
D-Day is one of the significant turning points in wartime history and was the largest single military operation ever launched. In Our Finest Day, best-selling author Mark Bowden reveals the human faces behind this brutal battle, using reproductions of original documents. Included in these pages are personal letters and poignant journal entries from soldiers, secret dispatches and pages from code books, and strategic battle plans and maps. These removable artifacts-from the collection of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans-allow readers to hold a piece of history in their hands. Imagine holding a replica of the last letter written home by a soldier as he waited nervously for the attack to begin, or the message sent to Allied headquarters in England informing them that the beaches had been taken. From the commanders of Operation Overlord to the airborne troopers and resistance fighters, Our Finest Day introduces readers to the brave men who risked their lives and triumphed over Hitler s Germany.
Customer Reviews:
Brief but Revealing.......2002-10-26
Despite its brevity, this book is both informative and revealing. Bowden gives a good overview of what preceded and led up to D-Day. He describes Operation Overlord and the German defenses on the French coast, as well as the air and land assault plans.
Especially interesting are the authentic photos and artifacts from the collection of the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, founded by the late Stephen Ambrose. These artifacts include a soldiers' diary, the front page of the New York Times, a letter from Roosevelt, and an inspirational message from Eisenhower. All are able to be pulled out and looked at by the reader.
One of the artifacts, "A Pocket Guide to France" was given to the military and is included in this book as a pull out. It was simple and patriotic as it explained the military mission in France, the history of the conflict, and told the soldiers how to behave while in France.
Bowden also writes of the possible pitfalls in the plan, including dropping soldiers at night and the unpredictability of the weather. He concisely relates the events of D-Day, the airborne efforts, the invasion of Utah Beach, and the action of the armada, all interspersed with the words of those who were there.
Following this is a section about the Allied advance through France and into Germany...and less than a year later, the Reich was in ruins and Hitler was dead.
I liked this book most of all for its simplicity and authenticity.
D-Day Militaria Book.......2002-07-05
This short 30 page account of the D-Day invasion with first hand
narrative is unique in that it contains reproductions of various items associated with the invasion. There are personal items such as notebooks and Bibles and operational items such as orders
and after-action reports. All in all this is an interesting look into the history of D-Day made more so by the inclusion of historical artifacts. I recommend it to you, inspite of its brevity and price.
Book Description
On their western flank, the Allied landings on D-Day combined a parachute drop by the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions with an amphibious assault on “Utah” Beach by the US 4th Infantry Division. The landings came ashore in the wrong place but met weaker German resistance as a result. The heaviest fighting took place inland where the badly scattered paratroopers gradually gathered in small groups and made for their objectives. This book traces the story of D-Day on Utah beach, revealing how the infantry pushed inland and linked up with the Airborne troops in a beachhead five miles deep. Now the battle to break out and seize the key port of Cherbourg could begin.
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