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Summary: THE BIBLE OF D-DAY HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY AMBROSE
Review: Absolutely the best account of the battle of D-Day ever written. Ambrose's knowledge of D-Day is staggering, and his writing style is brilliant. I've read a dozen or so books on the subject and this is by far the most complete, well structured, and well written book available. Ambrose doesn't leave anything out. He even discusses in considerable detail, the actions and sentiments of the American people back in the States, as news of the invasion hit the air waves. This book is a must read for every historian, and every U.S. patriot.
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Summary: IGNORES EVIDENCE IN ORDER TO INSULT THE BRITISH
Review: Ambrose minimises the contribution UK and Canadian troops maded to the landings. They assaulted 3 beaches, the US troops 2, but only a couple of chapters of Ambrose's book deal with the British contribution. Far worse is Ambrose's contention that 'the British sought to win by using gadgets, the Americans by using guts'.This leads in to a long passage in which it is 'proved' that US troops were braver than the Germans, and much, much braver than the British. Could we just examine the nature of Ambrose's 'evidence'?There really isn't any- a remark by Gen. Montgomery to an assault force commander ('For God's sake, bring the boys back'), and.....and nothing but a lot of rhetoric. Could it be a coincidence that Ambrose 'forgets' to mention certain relevant pieces of information?No mention of the captured German documents and interrrogations of German officers which said that the Americans advanced faster but also were quicker to retreat under heavy attack- the Brits went forward cautiously but stood their ground more stubbornly.No mention of the fact that - as decoded German signals revealed at the time, and as German documents confirm now- in Normandy the British faced the bulk of the German Panzer units, which had a)better training than the units fighting the Americans and b) better tanks than those used by both the Brits and the Americans.No mention of the fact that US casualty figures for the battle of Normandy were no higher than the British figures- so if all those Brits were so cowardly, why did they die at the same rate as the Americans? The British did the bulk of the fighting for Normandy, as they had done in N.Africa and Italy; the Americans did the bulk of the fighting after Normandy, including such hideous battles as the Ardennes and the Rhine crossing.The courage of the average GI was incredible; so was the courage of the average British soldier.Together they liberated Western Europe. If Ambrose had a single piece of evidence of British cowardice, then one could take his book seriously. He has no such evidence. I hope that Ambrose can respect himself for having insulted the dead.
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Summary: Lack of good maps
Review: Excellent book - un unforgettable read and full of real life experience. Poor point of the book is that the maps do not match up to the quality of the rest of the book - particularly for readers in England. Maps of Juno, Gold and Sword simply do not exist and therefore the reading is impaired because place names are mentioned which you cannot locate unless you know the area personally. You have to beware of the Syndrome of 'How the Americans won the war!"
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Summary: The Greatest WWII History Book EVER!!
Review: The moment I read the first line in D-Day I was hooked. The evidence Stephen Ambrose presents is unpresidented. One of the reasons I enjoyed it so much was the fact that it was real and I was able to understand what my grandfather went through. I owe Stephen Ambrose many thanks for creating this book so everyone knows what really went on.
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Summary: A great starting point for neophytes in the history of WW2.
Review: I found this book both informative and gripping. As a Canadian I would like to disagree with Mr. Ambrose's criticisms of the British but I can't, since they are accurate. Due to the smaller population base of Britain and the developed Commonwealth countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and S. Africa), they simply didn't have the manpower reserves to absorb large casualties and they'd been fighting for 2 years longer than the U.S. Canada's army was all volunteer until early 1945, so a little extra caution was justified. Ambrose is equally critical of U.S. failings anyway, so I don't really see his criticism of the British as being unfair. I wish that he would have commented more on why the U.S. experience in the Pacific was not utilized in Normandy and why the excellent LVT's used by the marines were not part of the landing force. Allied shortcomings on D-Day seem to be more the result of an army general doing most of the planning than anything else. In the Pacific by June, 1944, air,sea and ground forces were working together more closely than was achieved on D-Day. It would have been nice if the sections on the British and Canadian beaches had been longer, but this is not entirely Ambrose's fault. The British and Canadians have lagged behind the Americans in the compilation of oral history so there is less source material. I hope that more is done in this area before all those memories are lost forever. It's always possible to find something to criticize in any book so, taken as a whole, I find this one to be outstanding.
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Summary: Great Book For Anyone Interested In D-Day Or W.W.II
Review: This book is probably one of the best books I have ever read. If anyone is even remotely interested in D-Day or W.W.II I highly recomend this book to them. It puts you right on the beaches of Normandy or in the planes preparing to jump into a feild of tracers in the sky by explaining everything in detail. And giving a sence of pride to the reader over what was accomplished. My hats off to the writter.
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Summary: Amazing!!
Review: This book is really amazing. It consist true life account on what happened that day and let people know that a hero can be any ordinary people. As it said in the book - every man on the beach was a hero.
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Summary: A good (but solely American) recounting of that day
Review: The chapters on the American beaches are quite good. They are filled with first person accounts of horror and heroism. This book is virulently anti-British. While this viewpoint might be justified, I think any British person reading this book will be pretty angry. The British command and troops are depicted as timid and lackadaisical. Again, this might have been true, but the book depicts the British mostly as a liability while the Americans are depicted as fearless sons of democracy. The buildup and American assaults on the beaches got about 500 pages. The British and Canadian actions got about 60 pages. Pretty lop-sided in my opinion.
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Summary: I recommend this book to anyone that knows how to read.
Review: I started reading this book during my sophomore year of high school and finished it at the beginning of my junior year. I was so taken away with all the information in this book, and now I can't stop reading books on WWII. I plan on reading it again and ordering Ambrose's new book "Citizen Soldiers." This book couldn't get any more descriptive. But I didn't get a real view of the Normandy Invasion until I saw the movie "Saving Private Ryan," which I recommend to everyone.
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Summary: Great read . . . but very biased
Review: This book is excellent. Without a doubt, one of the best books on D-Day ever written. The personal accounts of the action are both thrilling and amazing. The only criticism I have is that the book purports to offer an overview of the entire battle, but it really only presents the U.S. point of view. Whereas the book touches on the British, Canadian, and French contribution to D-Day, one who does not know much about the battle will come away thinking it was an American operation. Such a result is great if you want to write about blind patriotism, but not if you want to write good history. Whereas I am enternally greatful to the U.S. vets who fought and died on D-Day, I believe Ambrose insulted British, Canadian, and French troops by minimizing their role.
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