D-Day: The Greatest Invasion: A People's History

The logistics of the allied invasion of Western Europe are incredible, even in retrospect. It involved hundreds of ships and planes, thousands of men and devices to kill men everywhere. The wonder is not that there was confusion, but that it went as well as it did. It is a tribute to the planners that it did succeed, for if it had not, it is nearly certain that Soviet Armies would have marched to the Rhine and perhaps even to the Normandy coast. The consequences of the Soviet armies dominating all of Europe after the war are enormous and communism could have emerged victorious in the cold war. This book is a chronicle of the men who created the victory against extreme opposition. While some of the German units were not the highest caliber, all still put up a ferocious fight, and it was only the courage of the allied soldiers and their willing to shed their blood that made it happen. A combination of photos, pictures and text describe the invasion from the initial planning to the destruction of the German armies in the Falaise pocket. In many cases, before and after photos are paired to show how the region looked then and now. Two days truly changed the course of World War II. The first is the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into the war and which guaranteed that the allies would not be defeated. The second is D-Day, which meant that Soviet influence would end somewhere in the middle of Europe rather than at the western border. This is a story of one of the greatest days in American history, where the course of world history for five decades was decided. We all owe so much to the men who hit those beaches and this book is a history lesson that should never, ever be forgotten.

While it may not be the most detailed book on D-Day, it was very informative about the politics side of the invasion on both sides of the battle. It is definately more informative about the Canadian troops that helped in the invasion. This is stated at the beginning of the book also. Overall though, it is one of the best books on D-Day I have read.

American soldiers and sailors were threatened with court-marshal for taking diaries or cameras ashore on Normandy D-Day. Most of Robert Capa's June 6, 1944 photos shot at 8:30 A.M. on the Easy Red/Fox Green sectors of Omaha Beach were accidentally destroyed during developing. Fortunately, D-Day combat artist Dwight Shepler, USNR, captured many great scenes of the U.S. Naval Beach Battalions and LCI sailors in France. Author Dan van der Vat's D-Day: The Greatest Invasion - A People's History is a well written overview of Operation Overlord and ingeniously combines Shepler's invasion art, never-before-published photos and most important, first person accounts of American, British, Canadian, Free French and Polish Allied participants. I never knew my father, a beach battalion medical officer, but I do know many D-Day veterans. The Greatest Invasion is quite a tribute to "those who were there," and will surely become a bestseller at the National D-Day Memorial Foundation in Bedford, VA and the "new" National WWII Museum in New Orleans, LA.