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D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (Paperback)

by Stephen E. Ambrose (Author)

3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (68 customer reviews)

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Pegasus Bridge: D-Day - the Daring British Airborne Raid by Stephen E. Ambrose
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Citizen Soldiers: From the Normandy Beaches to the Surrender of Germany by Stephen E. Ambrose
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Product details

Paperback: 656 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books; paperback / softback edition (5 Jun 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0743449746
ISBN-13: 978-0743449748
Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 4.6 cm

Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (68 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 21,120 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories:

#2 in	Books > History > World History > World War II 1939-1945 > Countries > North America
#8 in	Books > History > Military History > Battles & Campaigns > D-Day Landings
#32 in	Books > History > World History > World War II 1939-1945 > Countries > Europe

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Product Description

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.

Product Description

"It is the young men born into the false prosperity of the 1920s and brought up in the bitter realities of the Depression of the 1930s that this book is about. The literature they read as youngsters was anti-war and cynical, portraying patriots as suckers, slackers and heroes. None of them wanted to be part of another war. They wanted to be throwing baseballs, not handgrenades; shooting .22s at rabbits, not M-1s at other young men. But when the test came, when freedom had to be fought for or abandoned, they fought" (from the Prologue). On the basis of 1400 oral histories from the men who were there, this account reveals how 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 Stephen 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 realized that nothing was as they had been told it would be.

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Customer Reviews

68 Reviews

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(13)

Average Customer Review

3.2 out of 5 stars (68 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars gripping yet badly biased, 2 April 2003

By	"babyguy" - See all my reviews

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.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Putting the Record Straight, 18 Jul 2008

By	Al Roughley (UK) - See all my reviews

Ambrose described an alleged incident on Omaha Beach in which a Captain Zappacosta threatened the British coxswain of his landing craft with a pistol in order to make him move closer inshore. Private Robert Sales, the only survivor of that landing craft has since stated that this was a complete invention. It never happened. Sales, who was angered by the allegation, challenged Ambrose in person and asked him to correct it but the writer just brushed it off. There is much more in this vein - Ambrose rarely missed an opportunity to disparage the British individually and collectively. If this is representative of the standard of his research, then this book should be treated with extreme caution. His sections on the Anglo-Canadian contribution to D-Day are in any case lamentably brief. This is just bad history. There are many excellent works about D-Day, but this isn't one of them.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars D-Day The Battle for (Two of) the Normandy Beaches , 2 Oct 2006

By	David S. Mitchell "Merlin XX" (Scotland, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'll start by admitting I'm not a big fan of Ambrose, and put off reading this for a long time. I shouldn't have bothered, this is a real disappointment, and unfortunately is Ambrose at both his best and worst.

As always Ambrose does a magnificent job in relating the first hand experiences (although I feel there has only been one source of information used - the Eisenhower Centre) and this is where he really excels, and produces the best aspects of the book. On a serious historical level however this is Ambrose's usual distorted, light weight fluff.

The Omaha section just goes on and on, and really needs edited down, Utah comes a close second, and as for the British and Canadian efforts why did he bother? According to this book the Canadian contribution was negligible, and there are some startling omissions - despite the Royal Navy contributing the largest part of the fleet it gets scant mention at all, apparently only providing bumbling, cowardly Landing Craft crews - an insult to all those involved. All naval bombardment apparently came from US warships, apart from a few stray rounds from RN cruisers which fell on US troops. Ambrose's comments regarding the 8th Army in the Western Desert are simply offensive, and are made worse in that no substantiation or explanation is offered.

If you are looking for any meaningful comment on contribution from French, Polish, Norwegian, Greek, Dutch or any other allied nations don't waste your time. As for the Germans, they are reduced to the status of faceless targets.

Most disappointing is that there is no setting of political or strategic context, the real how and why behind the whole operation.

This would have been better presented in a "Forgotten Voices" style. If you know your Normandy history read this for the first hand accounts, if can stand the "America Won The War" irritation factor. If you want a good first reader go for Cornelius Ryan, Carlo D'Este, David Howarth, Max Hastings or Robin Neillands - anything but this.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Very gripping read... but does not do the british veterans justice
I have recently finished this book and as an avid fan of anything military history based I thoroughly enjoyed it. Read more

Published 4 days ago by Chuck Napalm

1.0 out of 5 stars A poor craftsman
There's one thing very wrong with this book and unfortunately it's the author. His inability to stop his patriotism getting in the way of history means many very important facts... Read more

Published 2 months ago by F. Graham

5.0 out of 5 stars The Climatic Battle- And Why
As readers of my Amazon reviews are aware, I have read and reviewed many books about World War II (for a list seem my Listmania: World War II). This is one of the best. Read more

Published 4 months ago by James Gallen

2.0 out of 5 stars Not always objective
Stephen Ambrose appears to express as facts not only opinions, but his own opinions. Having only read the first two and a half chapters, it does not seem as though this author is... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Tom

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting accounts, poor historian conclusions
I thought Band of Brothers was a very good read, if somewhat reluctant to address any flaws in the men concerned. Read more

Published 6 months ago by B. Hurst

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not "anti-British", get a grip!
There's a lot of nonsense talked about this book - about how it disparages the British contribution to the Normandy landings and makes it out to be primarily an American victory... Read more

Published 9 months ago by M. J. Mooney

5.0 out of 5 stars "When can their glory fade?"
Before I read D-Day I had a look on here to see what people thought of it. I was a bit discouraged with what a lot of people had to say, so having now finished it I felt compelled... Read more

Published 12 months ago by G. J. Donaldson

1.0 out of 5 stars d-day
I'm just over half way through this book and I'm very disappointed. I don't think Stephen Ambrose is a very good writer, he seems to repeat himself quite a bit and the personal... Read more

Published 15 months ago by SteveW

4.0 out of 5 stars The greatest day
Good book with a nice description of the facts ocurred on that great day. Being american, the writter focus on the action from that quarter. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Luis Miguel Vale

1.0 out of 5 stars D-Day, by Ambrose
I was extremely disappointed in this book! Don't get me wrong, it describes the U.S. participation in GREAT detail, BUT it doesn't describe the British involvement until Chapter... Read more

Published on 30 Jul 2007 by Darlene G. Germain

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