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Rating: 
Summary: There was so much more than just the Landings.
Review:
It seems that the very mention of the phrase "D-Day" is always followed by the word "landings" as, together, they conjure up images of small craft and thousands of allied soldiers struggling to create beachheads on a stretch of French coastline fiercely defended by well-entrenched German soldiers. Whilst those landings signalled the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany, there was so much more besides and this book covers them all to great effect.
D-Day, Normandy Revisited is a hard back book measuring approx. 11" x 8" and containing 190 pages of well researched and equally well presented facts and photographs about one of the most pivotal dates in modern history - 6 June 1944.
Five beaches on the coast of Normandy were each given their own code name on being selected for the landing of over 156,000 allied troops. Additional Airborne Forces were also dropped behind enemy lines in order to attack the beach defences from the rear. As each of the 5 beachheads became established so those troops were then able to move inland - fighting running battles in the Normandy countryside as they did so. The book is, therefore, divided into five main sections as it tells the complete story of each of those beaches - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. In this way the reader is treated to what the publishers aptly describe as a "photographic pilgrimage" - firstly to the beach in question and then to the towns, villages, farms and even individual buildings relevant to the events which followed the establishment of each separate beachhead.
With an easy-to-read style of writing, the author cleverly steers the reader through everything from the first wet footprints to the fierce fighting in the French countryside. With a generous and well-chosen selection of photographs - both modern and historic, we are shown what happened then and what it looks like now - 60 years on. Then, having followed the fortunes of those troops from one beach, we start all over again with another.
In many ways this book is a jigsaw containing all the pieces which make up a complete picture of the events which were D-Day. I have read the book and it seems to me that all the pieces are there but, more importantly, it serves as a most appropriate celebration of those key events which, as I have already mentioned, saw the beginning of the end of an evil regime which once dominated mainland Europe.
NM
Rating:
Summary: There was so much more than just the Landings.
Review: It seems that the very mention of the phrase "D-Day" is always followed by the word "landings" as, together, they conjure up images of small craft and thousands of allied soldiers struggling to create beachheads on a stretch of French coastline fiercely defended by well-entrenched German soldiers. Whilst those landings signalled the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany, there was so much more besides and this book covers them all to great effect.D-Day, Normandy Revisited is a hard back book measuring approx. 11" x 8" and containing 190 pages of well researched and equally well presented facts and photographs about one of the most pivotal dates in modern history - 6 June 1944. Five beaches on the coast of Normandy were each given their own code name on being selected for the landing of over 156,000 allied troops. Additional Airborne Forces were also dropped behind enemy lines in order to attack the beach defences from the rear. As each of the 5 beachheads became established so those troops were then able to move inland - fighting running battles in the Normandy countryside as they did so. The book is, therefore, divided into five main sections as it tells the complete story of each of those beaches - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. In this way the reader is treated to what the publishers aptly describe as a "photographic pilgrimage" - firstly to the beach in question and then to the towns, villages, farms and even individual buildings relevant to the events which followed the establishment of each separate beachhead. With an easy-to-read style of writing, the author cleverly steers the reader through everything from the first wet footprints to the fierce fighting in the French countryside. With a generous and well-chosen selection of photographs - both modern and historic, we are shown what happened then and what it looks like now - 60 years on. Then, having followed the fortunes of those troops from one beach, we start all over again with another. In many ways this book is a jigsaw containing all the pieces which make up a complete picture of the events which were D-Day. I have read the book and it seems to me that all the pieces are there but, more importantly, it serves as a most appropriate celebration of those key events which, as I have already mentioned, saw the beginning of the end of an evil regime which once dominated mainland Europe. NM
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