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Amazon.co.uk Review
Published to mark the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, Stephen E. Ambrose's D-Day: June 6, 1944 relies on over 1,400 interviews with veterans, as well as prodigious research in military archives on both sides of the Atlantic. He provides a comprehensive history of the invasion which also eloquently testifies as to how common soldiers performed extraordinary feats. A major theme of the book, upon which Ambrose would later expand in Citizen Soldiers, is how the soldiers from the democratic Allied nations rose to the occasion and outperformed German troops thought to be invincible. The many small stories that Ambrose collected from paratroopers, sailors, infantrymen, and civilians make the excitement, confusion, and sheer terror of D-day come alive on the page. --Robert McNamara
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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On the basis of 1,400 oral histories from the men who were there, bestselling author and World War II historian Stephen E. Ambrose reveals for the first time anywhere that the intricate plan for the invasion of France in June 1944 had to be abandoned before the first shot was fired. The true story of D-Day, as Ambrose relates it, is about the citizen soldiers - junior officers and enlisted men - taking the initiative to act on their own to break through Hitler's Atlantic Wall when they realised that nothing was as they had been told it would be. D-DAY is the brilliant, no holds barred, telling of the battles of Omaha and Utah beaches. Ambrose relives the epic victory of democracy on the most important day of the twentieth century.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unbalanced Approach to History,
By
This review is from: D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (Paperback)
This is the first Stephen Ambrose history book that I have read and it is most likely that it will be the last too. If you read the title you would believe that this is an all-encompassing account of D-Day based on first hand accounts. However because I would guess 80% of the accounts are from US veterans the book reflects this. It would be far more honest to call this work "D-Day : An American Triumph" because that is the way it is portrayed. You have to question an author's objectivity when it becomes clear that Ambrose knew Eisenhower personally and is in awe of him, the source material is so skewed towards US accounts and that when you begin to read through you will see opinions given with little or no supporting evidence. There is a really patronising view given of all the nationalities - i.e. the British are a bunch of tea drinkers who are either eccentric boffins or timid, thick soldiers. The really disappointing element is that this was an operation that covered 5 beaches and airborne operations but we only get the detail on 2 beaches - you are not able to judge which landings were the most important militarily for the Allies because there is so much emphasis on the US beaches where they endured a truly hellish time before getting themselves established. There are better accounts out there.
42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
gripping yet badly biased,
This review is from: D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (Paperback)
I found reading this book a strange experience. It's a gripping read, very thorough in terms of detail and research, and it brings the realities of war into sharp focus. I couldn't put it down, despite the fact that I was on holiday and should have been out sightseeing. Despite getting great enjoyment out of the book, it also left a rather sour taste in my mouth. The author is primarily concerned with the American contribution to the D-Day operations - fair enough, since I take it he's American. However, he is openly contemptuous of the role of the non-American forces involved. The Canadians get a slightly condescending, brief mention. The most offputing factor was his treatment of the British soldiers though - according to Ambrose, the British took on the 'easy' beaches, wandered ashore, had a cup of tea then packed it in for the day. Not only did we not do much on D-Day, but we scuppered the American soldiers by providing them with our amateurish, ad-hoc kit. I found this kind of stuff slightly offensive and disappointing. The one plus point in this regard is that he keeps his mention of British troops to a minimum, so you aren't reminded of his bias too frequently. The book is a flawed yet entertaining read, and it has motivated me to do some further reading on the role of the British troops in the D-Day landings.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed account of a pivotal moment of the 20th Century,
By electricvic (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (Paperback)
Just browsing the other reviews is reassuring - I am not alone in regretting Ambrose's terribly one-sided view of the conflict in Normandy.
Ambrose was clearly a hard-working historian whose contribution in collecting hours of eyewitness accounts will be valued by generations to come. But his shortcomings are clear in this book - he is biased, as other reviewers have expressed, and he is a poor writer, incapable of injecting the events he is describing with any drama. Max Hastings is a proper writer, so if you want a much better book, I commend you to Overlord. Sadly, because Ambrose acted as an advisor on the movie Saving Private Ryan, his strange belittlement of the contribution on the non-US allies to D Day has probably become a received idea for millions of people.
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