Holland - Normandy 44: D-day and the Epic 77-day Battle for France

D-Day, June 6, 1944, and the seventy-six days of bitter fighting in Normandy that followed the Allied landing, have become the defining episode of World War II in the west -- the object of books, films, television series, and documentaries. Yet as familiar as it is, as James Holland makes clear in his definitive history, many parts of the OVERLORD campaign, as it was known, are still shrouded in myth and assumed knowledge. Drawing freshly on widespread archives and on the testimonies of eye-witnesses, Holland relates the extraordinary planning that made Allied victory in France possible; indeed, the story of how hundreds of thousands of men, and mountains of material, were transported across the English Channel, is as dramatic a human achievement as any battlefield exploit. The brutal landings on the five beaches and subsequent battles across the plains and through the lanes and hedgerows of Normandy -- a campaign that, in terms of daily casualties, was worse than any in World War I -- come vividly to life in conferences where the strategic decisions of Eisenhower, Rommel, Montgomery, and other commanders were made, and through the memories of paratrooper Lieutenant Dick Winters of Easy Company, British corporal and tanker Reg Spittles, Thunderbolt pilot Archie Maltbie, German ordnance officer Hans Heinze, French resistance leader Robert Leblanc, and many others. For both sides, the challenges were enormous. The Allies confronted a disciplined German army stretched to its limit, which nonetheless caused tactics to be adjusted on the fly. Ultimately ingenuity, determination, and immense material strength -- delivered with operational brilliance -- made the difference. A stirring narrative by a pre-eminent historian, Normandy 44 offers important new perspective on one of historys most dramatic military engagements and is an invaluable addition to the literature of war. -- Amazon.com.;The battle before D-Day. The Atlantic wall ; Command of the skies ; Understanding Montgomery and the master plan ; Countdown ; The winds of war ; Big war ; Air power -- Invasion. D-Day minus one ; D-Day: the first hours ; D-Day: dawn ; D-Day: the American landings ; D-Day: the British and Canadian landings ; D-Day: the turning of the battle ; D-Day: foothold -- Attrition. Bridgehead ; Fighter-bomber racecourse ; Linking up ; The constraints of wealth and the freedom of poverty ; Behind the lines ; The grinding battle ; The great storm ; EPSOM ; Cherbourg and the Scottish corridor ; Trouble at the top ; Bloody bocage ; Living like foxes -- Breakout. A brief discourse on weapons and the operational level of war ; Crisis of command ; GOODWOOD ; Saint-Lo^ ; COBRA ; BLUECOAT ; LU?TTICH ; Tank battle at Saint-Aignan ; The corridor of death.