Landing on the Edge of Eternity

September 15, 2018
The Normandy invasion was a critical victory for the Allies. According to military historian Kershaw (24 Hours at the Somme: 1 July 1916, 2017, etc.), it could have been a crushing defeat.If the other Normandy beaches that Allied troops stormed on June 6, 1944, had been as bloody as Omaha Beach, argues the author, a veteran of later wars, then Dwight Eisenhower might have had to send out the memo of defeat that he instead pocketed, the one that famously said, "if any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." As it was, the Allies squeaked by. Studying the operation from a military point of view, without the stagy but effective set pieces of Cornelius Ryan and the political interests of Anthony Beevor, Kershaw describes an awful day of battle. Commendably, his account includes plenty of testimonials from the German side, which had all the advantages of the well-entrenched defender but a few odd weaknesses as well. For instance, unbeknownst to Allied intelligence, a heavily battle-tested German infantry division, with plenty of survivors of Stalingrad and other flashpoints, was well dug in near Omaha, which explains all the carnage Steven Spielberg so vividly depicted in Saving Private Ryan. At the same time, some of the German defenses, such as an anti-tank barrier, were just this side of Potemkin villages. The Germans knew invasion was coming; they just didn't know quite where. But they were ready, with one grizzled commander ordering, "if possible, do not take prisoners under ten men." That the American landing force survived Omaha at all--as it is, the day posted one of the greatest casualty counts of any battle Americans fought in--seems little short of a miracle and is evidence of how badly good intelligence is needed in any fight. That said, Kershaw singles out for praise numerous fighting elements, such as the U.S. Army Rangers, who helped break the German lines.A revisionist look that won't cheer America-firsters but that helps broaden our understanding of a crucial battle.

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Starred review from September 24, 2018
Kershaw (24 Hours at the Somme), a military historian and former British soldier, gives a meticulously researched, gripping account of what is now praised as a great Allied victory, but at the time seemed like a crude slaughter: the Allies’ near-defeat at Omaha Beach. The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, began the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation, and its success hinged on the landing by American troops at Omaha Beach. This minute-by-minute account starts with Gen. Dwight Eisenhower worrying the landing would fail. His fears were rapidly confirmed; nearly 4,700 American were killed or wounded there. Allied command and planning decisions come in for fair criticism, and the shortcomings of the pre-landing bombardment by Allied air and naval forces are explored both through tactical analysis and the accounts of infantrymen who left their landing craft and saw their fellow soldiers butchered at the water’s edge. Kershaw’s research into the crack German troops stationed at Omaha is exceptionally detailed. Kershaw brings home the significance of the battle with suspense and uncertainty that has been glossed over in other recent accounts.