D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II

by Stephen E. Ambrose

Hardcover, 1994

Status

Available

Call number

940.542142

Genres

Publication

Simon & Schuster (1994), 656 pages

Description

On the basis of 1,400 oral histories from the men who were there, Eisenhower biographer and World War II historian Stephen E. Ambrose reveals for the first time anywhere that the intricate plan for the invasion of France in June 1944, had to be abandoned before the first shot was fired. The true story of D-Day, as Ambrose relates it, is about the citizen soldiers - junior officers and enlisted men - taking the initiative to act on their own to break through Hitler's Atlantic Wall when they realized that nothing was as they had been told it would be. This is a brilliant telling of the battles of Omaha and Utah beaches, based on information only now available, from American, British, Canadian, French, and German veterans, from government and private archives, from never before utilized sources on the home front, gathered and analyzed by the author, who has made D-Day his life work. Ambrose's first interview was with General Eisenhower in 1964, his last with paratroopers from the 101st Airborne in 1993. Called the premier American narrative and military historian, Ambrose explains the most important day of the twentieth century. The action begins at midnight, June 5/6, when the first British and American airborne troops jumped into France to launch the invasion. It ends at midnight, June 6/7. Focusing on those pivotal twenty-four hours, this is the story of individuals rather than units. It moves from the level of Supreme Commander to that of a French child, from General Omar Bradley to an American paratrooper, from Field Marshal Montgomery to a British private, from Field Marshal Rommel to a German sergeant. Ambrose covers the politics of D-Day, from Churchill's resistance to the operation to Stalin's impatience and Roosevelt's concern. On the other side were Hitler's command structure, German policy, and the plot against the Fuhrer. This is the epic victory of democracy in winner-take-all combat. When Hitler declared war on the United States, he bet that the young men brought up in the Hitler Youth would outfight the Boy Scouts. Ambrose shows how wrong he was.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member yeremenko

This book should be titled "US Airborne and Omaha Beach on D-Day." After a start that discusses the great work of British paratroops Ambrose promises to give a complete look at the battle. But he only tells the US side of the story. It is frustrating how American writers can arrogantly say they are

telling the complete story of a battle when dismissing all that is not about them. While admitting the landing at Juno beach was as difficult and bloody for the Canadians as the landing at Omaha was for the Americans (which he dissects in great detail and builds pedestals for all the brave GIs who dared set foot on the beach) he gives but a sentence to the Canadians. He fails to mention the Canadians did not drop their tanks at the bottom of the channel and executed that part of the landing exponentially better than the Yanks. He devotes chapters to the tiny successes of the screw-up American airborne troops that so poorly executed their plans that day. But he has just one obligatory mention of the Canadians and only one specific detail of the Brit paratroops.

We get it Steve, you love the old airborne guys. You love the guy that got hooked on the steeple and you don't care what the Brits and especially the Canadians did that day.

Fine.

Just don't claim to be writing about the entire battle.

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LibraryThing member Renzomalo

An absolutely priceless piece of research regarding the climactic battle of WWII in June of 1944. Painstakingly researched and told in clear, straightforward prose, Ambrose places us on beaches and in the planning rooms as the battle teeters on the brink of failure. General Omar Bradley nearly

calls the men off the beach. His communications are down and the beach is shrouded in smoke so he waits, unaware that most of his armor hasn’t made it to shore, that his officer corps has been decimated, and that it’s his non-coms who have carried the desperate battle to the enemy. A great read and a must for any student of World War II.

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LibraryThing member minxy_ukusa

im reading this again, for the forth time and hate that there is not enough time in the day to devote to this book. the histories of the men involved in dday are a facinating read, made more so by the way the author has knitted them all together to make an easier to read account; unlike many other

books recording the same events.

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LibraryThing member Angelic55blonde

A great book by one of the premiere historians on the subject. Definitely worth the read!

LibraryThing member prozacstan

For the past 15 years or so I have been intrigued by the accomplishments of the Allied forces on D-Day. I visited the area in 1999 and was overcome with emotion at the tremendous sacrifice and bravery that had taken place. Stephen Ambrose has taken it to a new level. It's as though I was one of

them and they were sharing with me their most personal stories of the war. War stories from veterans are few but always priceless. These are no exception.

Thank you veterans for all you have done.

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LibraryThing member seoulful

Stephen Ambrose presents this dramatic account of D-Day based upon newly released archives, interviews with veterans from both sides of the conflict as well as his own considerable knowledge of WWII. It is quite obvious that Ambrose connects with veterans of all levels of rank and all types of

background; he admires and appreciates them and the veterans in turn trust him and reveal stories perhaps never told before. It is these stories that flesh out the historical structure of the events of June 6, 1944 and create the drama, heartbreak and pride that was D-Day.

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LibraryThing member kcslade

Good, detailed history of the Normandy invasion.

LibraryThing member SCRH

An excellent book to learn details about the people and locations preceding and during the Allied invasion at Normandy. The author does an excellent job of presenting the complexities of the invasion in a manner that is easy to understand and follow time-wise. He relied on many first-person

accounts and did a masterful job of weaving them into a magnificent chronology for the reader to comprehend.

The book contains helpful graphics and maps, photos, and an index.

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LibraryThing member bkinetic

D-day was a pivotal day in the 20th Century and Ambrose weaves together the logistical planning, strategic decisions, and individual instances of tragedy and heroism into a coherent package. There is no greater drama than that of D-Day, when the fate of civilization depended the actions of

individual soldiers and those that led them.

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LibraryThing member meegeekai

This was the first book of Ambroses I read. Ambrose rally taught me to look at history differently. I actually read this book twice as it is a tough read, June 6 '44 was a very busy day. I read again when I went to Normandy in November of 2004 and carried this copy with me.

LibraryThing member ManipledMutineer

A sweeping survey of D-Day and the build-up thereto, well researched and interspersed with telling recollections from veterans. I personally found that it did not quite live up to its billing by reason of its strong American bias - a sub-title "The American Contribution/Perspective" would have

given a fairer idea of its content and scope, as the treatment of the US landings at Utah and Omaha beaches is far more extensive than that for the British and Canadians at Juno and Sword. No doubt the author speaks as he finds, but the criticisms of the British seem relatively more trenchant than those of US forces and the author also seems to have picked up on the dislike of Monty that he attributes to Eisenhower and a number of the references to Montgomery in the book are shot through with this. Overall a good book and one I am glad I have read, but some reservations about the treatment of US allies.

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LibraryThing member armyofbobs

At first I found the style tough to get through because it's a series of really small vignettes, but soon I grew to like it. Felt like a very thorough account with lots of interesting stories from individuals who were there and survived.

LibraryThing member MrDickie

A very nice book, based on personal accounts of D-Day participants. Stephen E. Ambrose doesn't hesitate to point out the planning and execution mistakes of the high-level leadership on both sides. Fortunately, for the Allies, the Germans were the most unprepared and disorganized.

LibraryThing member KirkLowery

The word for D-Day is "overwhelming." The amount of men and materiel moved on that day: overwhelming. The death, destruction and waste of the invasion (especially Omaha Beach): overwhelming. The heroism and courage of men of all different types, nationalities and personalities: overwhelming. Along

with Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day," this narrative is well crafted. Most of the sources were oral histories from the actual participants. The many tales told give one a sense of what the soldiers experienced. These stories are interspersed with the main narrative which looks at the larger questions of strategy, tactics, wisdom and folly. The invasion was a complex plan (done without computers!) of mainly logistics. And that plan lasted until the invasion actually began. Some things went right, most went wrong. Much of the heroics was involved with the soldiers trying to accomplish their objectives anyway, and trying to bring order out of chaos. This book brings this fact home by dozens of stories told in a systematic way about what happened at the various beaches, and with the botching of the airborne paratroop landings. In these days of an all-volunteer army, it was wrenching to realize that most of these soldiers were conscripts and really didn't want to be there; but they did it because they believed Hitler needed to be stopped so badly it was worth their lives. Could we find a quarter of a million civilians with such courage today? Probably; but then, the US is a lot bigger now. Would I be willing to lay down my life for such a cause? A very disturbing question.

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LibraryThing member DanTarlin

Really comprehensive, gripping history of June 6, 1944 in Normandy. Ambrose is a great popular history writer, and in this book he really gives the reader a sense of the enormity of the endeavor on D-Day. The book focuses most of its time on Omaha Beach, which was the messiest of the invasion

beaches due to the failure of the allies to properly bombard the emplacements first thing in the morning. But all the beaches get their due, and a sober assessment of the mistakes and brilliant decisions made by planners, generals, and lesser officers is offered.

The Greatest Generation indeed!

The difficult part of reading the book is that it would really be better as a documentary film, with diagrams and lots of maps. Not knowing the details of the geography of the French coast, I kept referring to maps from other places to get my bearings. There should have been more maps in the book. I would imagine, too, that a person with a military background would have an easier time than I did, as it's hard to picture this stuff if you haven't got a base of understanding.

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LibraryThing member sbluerock

Though I enjoyed reading about many of the individual accounts of D-Day in this book, I didn't like the way Ambrose pieced them together. It just kept going and going....

LibraryThing member KatherineGregg

I listened to this book (read by the author and WWII historian Stephen Ambrose) before our trip to Normandy to see the D Day sites. The book dramatically tells the true story of the how the Allies (US, Canada and Great Britain) broke through Hitler's Atlantic wall, focusing on D Day, June 6, 1944.

LibraryThing member tommi180744

A well crafted and copious detailed account that unlike many 'modern' tomes on the topic thankfully does not lend overdue weight to the contribution of the USA Armed Forces - superb & essential as they were to the planning, implementation & success - and is all the better for offering a very

balanced account of the forces, events & main characters on all sides during the so-called 'Longest Day'.

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LibraryThing member ladycato

A phenomenal book on a devastating and pivotal event. Ambrose is easy to read; it's the subject matter that is difficult here, the death and gore and sheer loss. All necessary for the cause of freedom, yet horrific.

LibraryThing member SeriousGrace

Where do I begin with a book like this? Imagine watching a scene from high above. Everything is muted and details are fuzzy. Now imagine swooping in to ground level and being able to engage all the senses. You hear, see, smell, taste and feel everything at close range. D-Day is such a book. You

know all about June 6th, 1944 from your textbooks and your history classes. With D-Day, June 6th, 1944: the Climactic Battle of World War II Stephen Ambrose swoops in and takes you down the to fighting. Ground level. You get to hear first hand accounts from the American, British and Canadian men who survived Operation Overlord: the five separate attacks from sea and air. The opening chapter is a parachute drop into enemy territory. Soldiers who fought side by side with buddies who later wouldn't make it recall every emotion. What a strange circumstance, to be fighting for your life and watching men die around you and yet have no fear. They knew they could meet death at any minute but were so moved by commanding offices to keep surging forward. The battle at Omaha Beach illustrates this most poignantly.
Probably the most interesting section of the book was the comparisons between Commanders Eisenhower and Rommel. They had so many things in common they could have been friends had it not been for their opposing positions in the war.

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LibraryThing member kslade

Really good details on the American side of the D-Day invasion. The movie, Saving Private Ryan, got me into reading this. Omaha Beach, in particular, was a very near thing. They almost had to evacuate them.

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