D-Day

July 27, 2009
Beevor has established a solid reputation as a chronicler of WWII's great eastern front battles: Stalingrad and Berlin. In addressing D-Day, he faces much wider competition with historians like Stephen Ambrose and Max Hastings, who also use his method of integrating personal experiences, tactical engagements, operational intentions and strategic plans. Beevor combines extensive archival research with a remarkable sense of the telling anecdote: he quotes, for example, an officer's description of the “bloody mass of arms and legs and heads, cremated corpses” created by artillery fire as the Germans tried to escape the Allied breakout. He is sharply critical of senior commanders on both sides: Bernard Montgomery's conceit; Adolf Hitler's self-delusion; Dwight Eisenhower's mediocrity. His heroes are the men who took the invasion ashore and carried it forward into Normandy in the teeth of a German defense whose skill and determination deserved a better cause. The result was a battle of attrition: a “bloody slog” that tested British and American fighting power to the limit—but not beyond. Beevor says that it wasn't Allied forces' material superiority but their successful use of combined arms and their high learning curve that were decisive in a victory that shaped postwar Europe. Maps, illus.

Starred review from August 15, 2009
The grand Allied invasion of Normandy had myriad ways to go wrong, writes historian Beevor (The Mystery of Olga Chekhova, 2004, etc.) in this skilled account. Miraculously, it did not.

"Everyone in Britain knew that D-Day was imminent," the author writes,"and so did the Germans." What kept the Germans from knowing the exact details of the attack is the stuff of legend—and a massive program of disinformation and double-agenting, which Beevor deftly relates. The larger outlines of the story are well-known; historians and journalists from John Keegan to Cornelius Ryan have had their say about the matter. To this Beevor adds sharp observations derived from the archives, among them the unsettling fact that just before the invasion almost every American unit involved was rated"unsatisfactory," most having never experienced combat before. Fortunately, the Germans across the English Channel were divided in how to respond. As the author notes, Erwin Rommel wanted to concentrate his troops near the landing sites, while his superior officers wanted to assemble a mighty counterattack in the woods north of Paris. Elements of both strategies were hastily assembled as needed, and in either event they cost the Allies plenty. One of the strongest elements of the book is Beevor's inclusion of sometimes overlooked and discounted actors, including French Resistance forces and veterans of the Polish army who had made their way west, and who told their French counterparts,"You will be liberated…but we will be occupied for years and years." As the author writes, the Germans had an international army, too, including Cossack forces that were mowed down as they rode into battle. His account of atrocities on both sides, of errors committed and of surpassing bravery makes for excellent—though often blood-soaked—reading.

Beevor gets better with each book.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 15, 2009
The story of operation Overlord and the French-coast landings on D-day, June 6, 1944, has been recounted many times both in print and on the big screen. It is certainly a story worth retelling, and Beevor ("Stalingrad") does it well, combining contemporary accounts with a moving narrative, beginning on June 2, 1944, and ending with the liberation of Paris in August. He relates the operation from all points of view, from the commanders to the men on the beaches, giving equal time to all participants and including, more unusually, the experiences of the French civilians involved. Civilian casualties ran into the tens of thousands, a fact either ignored or given short shrift in most books. Beevor shifts perspectives smoothly, enabling the reader to follow along without confusion, from the U.S. landings on Omaha and Utah beaches to the British and Canadians landings on Sword and Juno beaches, to the airborne incursion and the German response. VERDICT Beevor has written an in-depth campaign history, comparable to Max Hastings's "Overlord" and Carlo D'Este's "Decision in Normandy", that should be read by beginners and experts alike. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 6/15/09.]David Lee Poremba, Windermere, FL

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
The success of the Normandy campaign was no sure thing, despite meticulous planning, numerical superiority, and virtually complete command of the air. Many things could go wrong, and many of them did. The weather was unpredictable; precise timetables and coordination between air, land, and sea forces often broke down; and the Allied high command was plagued by internal bickering and political meddling. Beevor traces the campaign from the embarkation from English ports through the landings, the breakout, and de Gaulles triumphal entry into liberated Paris. Of course, we know how the story ends, but Beevor is a superb storyteller who captures the sweep of a massive effort while enriching his narrative with the experiences of ordinary soldiers. He is particularly effective in describing the strains within the alliance. Churchill and de Gaulle intensely disliked each other, and British general Montgomery constantly disagreed with both Eisenhower and other American commanders. Ultimately, their success owed much to the valor and adaptability of soldiers on the ground as well as good luck. This is an outstanding, comprehensive account, ideal for general readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)