D-Day: The Battle for Normandy

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Title:        D-Day: The Battle for Normandy

Author:        Beevor, Antony

Catalog:    940.5421 BEEVOR

Synopsis:

[From the HPL catalog] The #1 internationally bestselling history of D-Day is now enhanced with rare video footage from the NBC News Archives for the ultimate narrative of the battle for Normandy.  The definitive account of the Normandy invasion by the bestselling author of Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945.  From critically acclaimed world historian, Antony Beevor, this is the first major account in more than twenty years to cover the whole invasion from June 6, 1944, right up to the liberation of Paris on August 25.  It is the first book to describe not only the experiences of the American, British, Canadian, and German soldiers, but also the terrible suffering of the French caught up in the fighting.  More French civilians were killed by Allied bombing and shelling than British civilians were by the Luftwaffe.  The Allied fleet attempted by far the largest amphibious assault ever, and what followed was a battle as savage as anything seen on the Eastern Front.  Casualties mounted on both sides, as did the tensions between the principal commanders.  Even the joys of liberation had their darker side.  The war in northern France marked not just a generation, but the whole of the postwar world, profoundly influencing relations between America and Europe.  Beevor draws upon his research in more than thirty archives in six countries, going back to original accounts, interviews conducted by combat historians just after the action, and many diaries and letters donated to museums and archives in recent years.  D-Day will surely be hailed as the consummate account of the Normandy invasion and the ferocious offensive that led to the liberation of Paris.

Why I like this book:

As a grade-schooler I was fascinated by World War II and read everything on the shelf at my elementary school library.  I also read everything I could from the public library.  I think I was mostly fascinated by the sheer scale of it all and the huge variety of machines, weaponry, and equipment that were created for it.  As an adult, I retained my fascination regarding WWII, but in a slightly more human-centered way as I read more stories about the experiences of the soldiers themselves.  To be honest, this was a tough read.  Not because of the writing or the tremendous volume of material, but because of the detail and the images of war that come out of the descriptions.  In fact, I did judge this book by its cover at first.  Once I looked at that picture, and having seen the visceral Saving Private Ryan, I felt a tinge of dread as I started reading.  The reward is that Beevor is a good writer and his research is solid.  There are a tremendous number of very helpful maps to keep the reader on track with the myriad events occurring all at once during such a massive military action.  This is a book I will read again in the future and would recommend to anyone who wants to really understand just how astonishing, audacious, and miraculous was the allies’ invasion of Normandy.