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The story behind D-Day begins in 1939 when Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, attacked Poland and ignited World War Two. The following year, the Germans occupied France and Western Europe and launched a vicious air war against Britain. In 1941, they invaded the Soviet Union. Seemingly unstoppable, the Nazis now held virtually all of Europe. They imposed a ruthless system of control and unleashed the horror of the Holocaust. However, by 1943, the tide had begun to turn in favor of the Allies, the forces opposed to Germany. In the east, despite huge losses, the Soviets began to force the Germans back.
Shares firsthand accounts of the invasion of Europe from just prior to D-Day to ten days later, when it was clear the invasion was a success.
Over the past sixty-five years, the Allied invasion of Northwestern France in June 1944, known as D-Day, has come to stand as something more than a major battle. The assault itself formed a vital component of Allied victory in the Second World War. D-Day developed into a sign and symbol; as a word it carries with it a series of ideas and associations that have come to symbolize different things to different people and nations. As such, the commemorative activities linked to the battle offer a window for viewing the various belligerents in their postwar years. This book examines the commonalities and differences in national collective memories of D-Day. Chapters cover the main forces on the day of battle, including the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France and Germany. In addition, a chapter on Russian memory of the invasion explores other views of the battle. The overall thrust of the book shows that memories of the past vary over time, link to present-day needs, and also still have a clear national and cultural specificity. These memories arise in a multitude of locations such as film, books, monuments, anniversary celebrations, and news media representations.
German defenses along the Normandy beaches were part of the larger Atlantic Wall fortifications designed to defend Fortress Europe. When Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took command of the invasion front in late 1943, he began a program to enhance fortifications along the Normandy coast as he believed that any Allied assault had to be stopped on the invasion beaches themselves. His most important contribution to the defenses was an extensive program of improvised beach obstructions to complicate any landing attempt. This book analyses these fortifications and describes how the Allied forces overcame them on the morning of June 6, 1944.
From critically acclaimed world historian Beevor comes the first major account in more than 20 years to cover the whole Normandy invasion, from June 6, 1944, right up to the liberation of Paris on August 25 of the same year. b&w photo insert; 17 maps.
The untold story of Bletchley Park's key role in the success of the Normandy campaign Since the secret of Bletchley Park was revealed in the 1970s, the work of its codebreakers has become one of the most famous stories of the Second World War. But cracking the Nazis' codes was only the start of the process. Thousands of secret intelligence workers were then involved in making crucial information available to the Allied leaders and commanders who desperately needed it. Using previously classified documents, David Kenyon casts the work of Bletchley Park in a new light, as not just a codebreaking establishment, but as a fully developed intelligence agency. He shows how preparations for the war's turning point--the Normandy Landings in 1944--had started at Bletchley years earlier, in 1942, with the careful collation of information extracted from enemy signals traffic. This account reveals the true character of Bletchley's vital contribution to success in Normandy, and ultimately, Allied victory.
In 1983 the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans began a project to record the recollections of as many people as possible -- civilians as well as soldiers -- who were involved in one of the most pivotal events of the century. Skillfully edited by Ronald J. Drez and first published on the fifty-year anniversary of D-Day, the award-winning Voices of D-Day tells the story of that momentous operation almost entirely through the words of the people who were there.
“The narrative moves smoothly and crisply. There is effective treatment of strategy, preparations, and then the invasion and battle for Saipan itself.” —Spencer C. Tucker, author of American Revolution In June 1944 the attention of the nation was riveted on events unfolding in France. But in the Pacific, the Battle of Saipan was of extreme strategic importance. This is a gripping account of one of the most dramatic engagements of World War II. The conquest of Saipan and the neighboring island of Tinian was a turning point in the war in the Pacific as it made the American victory against Japan inevitable. Until this battle, the Japanese continued to believe that success in the war remai...
This unique account of D-Day history provides an unusual look into the US Armys preparation of a new type of World War II warfare, that of airborne operations. The book describes, using personal interviews with the veterans involved, how young men who had never even flown in an airplane before the war were trained to fly into combat, or to parachute into the dark of night. The narrative personalizes the events of D-Day for a small group of men of the 77th Troop Carrier Squadron and G Company of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. Most, including the authors uncle, did not survive to see the dawn on D-Day morning. The story then moves forward more than half a century, when research to find out what happened to his uncle led the author to meet some of the survivors of that night, resulting in what is believed to be the first reunion of a D-Day pilot with the men he dropped on that fateful morning, 56 years earlier. Many children of the next generation are making efforts to find out what happened to their fathers and uncles in World War II. This story is a classic example of the joy and heartbreak that can result from the success of such a search.
From the No. 1 bestselling historian Max Hastings comes 'a masterly book, rich in insight, shrewd and weighty in judgement' Financial Times On June 6, 1944 – D-Day – British, Canadian and American troops staged the greatest amphibious landing in history. It was the start of Operation Overlord, the battle to take Normandy from the Third Reich. Over ten gruelling weeks, the Allies fought the entrenched German army, some infantry units suffering an almost 100 per cent casualty rate. In Overlord, acclaimed historian Max Hastings has drawn on eyewitness accounts of survivors from both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped sources and documents, to write a gripping and authoritative account of the devastating fighting that paved the way for the liberation of north-west Europe. 'A book which combines serious historical and critical comment with brilliant reportage. He brings both the arguments between higher commanders and the fighting on the battlefield itself to life more vividly than previous books' Times Literary Supplement