by John Keegan
First published 2004
The D-Day landings succeed brilliantly on the beaches of Normandy, but the real war begins afterward. For three grueling months, six different armies battle across the French countryside as German forces mount a desperate defense against the Allied advance. Each army faces its own brutal test. American paratroopers fight house to house through Norman villages. British tank crews advance through deadly bocage country. Canadian infantry assault fortified positions under withering fire. German panzer divisions launch counterattacks against overwhelming odds. French resistance fighters sabotage enemy supply lines behind German positions. Polish armored units race to close the Falaise gap. Keegan follows each nationality through its particular ordeal, showing how soldiers from different nations experience the same campaign in completely different ways. The fighting grows more savage as weeks pass and casualties mount. Each army must overcome not just enemy resistance but also terrain, weather, and the grinding exhaustion of sustained combat. Victory comes only after bitter sacrifice, when German defenses finally crack and Paris falls to the Allies.
Genres: history, 20th-century, military-fiction, military-history
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: gritty, intimate
Setting: Normandy, France
Period: 1944
416 pages · Paperback · RANDOM HOUSE UK
Content warnings: graphic-violence, war