Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy
by Max Hastings
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Book Summary Information
Author: Max HastingsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-01-03
ISBN: 030727571X
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy
Book Review: More Bite than Sugar
Summary: 5 Stars
To start I should clarify two things, firstly, I like Max Hastings as a writer and historian. I like the way he incorporates the entire spectrum of participants in the story which takes the 'grind' out of reading an historic account. He also doesn't 'romanticise' topics like D Day which, of recent times, has received a number of glowing commentaries as we celebrate those who took part. I don't want to take away from those who fought, as I have genuine respect for their contribution, but recently I believe Hollywood and some historians have glorified the actual events, clouding the realities of the battle and the 'knife edge' it was fought on for the first few weeks.Thank God for the Russian Front as I don't believe the Allied armies would have succeeded had they faced more units such as Hitler Jugend,12th SS Panzer, Panzer Lehr and the Parachute Divison.Enough emphasis cannot be placed on the importance and contribution of FORTITUDE in the ultimate success!
Back to the book,looking at it from a resident of a country that didn't have troops committed to the battle (we were getting ground up in Italy!)I find it very balanced in its criticisms of the generalship and quality of troops from the various nations. Far from coming away with negative thoughts regarding Allied superiority in quality of troops I come away with a feeling of awe that they accomplished what they did, sticking to their task in very unpleasant conditions, considering Britain had been at war for 5 years and America didn't have any great animosity toward Germany and nearly all their troops were new to the battlefield.
I agree with Hastings that German forces were superior to Allied forces (excluding Airborne and Special Forces)on the whole. Unit for unit the Germans showed greater tenacity and initiative than the average Allied formation. Wittmans feat of arms with a single tank, Fritz Langangke's 'one man war'near St Denis and countless other defensive efforts showed, that with more resourcing, the Wehrmacht, in all liklihood, would have defeated the Allies. As quoted by Brigadier Williams, "The Germans adjusted much better to new conditions than we did. By and large they were better soldiers than we were.The Germans liked soldiering. We didn't."
Overall I found the book very readable, concise and balanced. It showed well the magnitude of the task in forming armies from numerous countries, the personalities that could have defeated the forces prior to any landing,the ebbs and flows which determine the outcome and the fact that numerical and logisitcal superiority will,over a period of time,win out.
If I was to choose one book to learn about the overall conduct of the battle, not in-depth analysis of a particular battle or battles, from top to bottom, this is the one. Well worth it. Not sugar coated, telling it how it was, sharing the criticisms in a fair and even-handed manner.
Summary of Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy
On June 6, 1944, American and British troops staged the greatest amphibious landing in history to begin Operation Overlord, the battle to liberate Europe from the scourge of the Third Reich. With gut-wrenching realism and immediacy, Hastings reveals the terrible human cost that this battle exacted.Moving beyond just the storming of Omaha beach and D-Day, he explores the Allies? push inward, with many British and American infantry units suffering near 100 percent casualties during the course of that awful summer. Far from a gauzy romanticized remembrance, Hastings details a grueling ten week battle to overpower the superbly trained, geographically entrenched German Wehrmacht. Uncompromising and powerful in its depiction of wartime, this is the definitive book on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.
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