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Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins

Max Hastings

Overlord; D-day and the Battle for Normandy 1944 Paperback – 6 Feb. 2004

by Max Hastings (Author)

1,108 ratings

Part of: Pan Military Classics (5 books)

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The famous D-Day Landings of 6 June 1944 marked the beginning of Operation Overlord, the battle for the liberation of Europe. Max Hastings has overturned many traditional legends to write this memorable study. Drawing together the eyewitness accounts of survivors on both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped sources and documents, Overlord provides a brilliant, controversial perspective on the devastating battle for Normandy.

'A masterly book, rich in insight, shrewd and weighty in judgement . . . Max Hastings stands in the first rank of writers on modern war' Financial Times

'A book which combines serious historical and critical comment with brilliant reportage. He brings both the arguments between higher commanders and the fighting on the battlefield itself to life more vividly than previous books' Times Literary Supplement

'A beautifully written masterpiece which makes The Longest Day seem inadequate' Len Deighton

Print length

464 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Pan Books
Publication date

6 Feb. 2004
Dimensions

13 x 3 x 19.7 cm
ISBN-10

0330390120
ISBN-13

978-0330390125
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Product description

About the Author

Sir Max Hastings, author of numerous books including Armageddon, Going to the Wars, and Das Reich, was editor of the Daily Telegraph for almost a decade, then for six years he edited the Evening Standard. In his youth he was a foreign correspondent for newspapers and BBC television. He has won many awards for his books and journalism, particularly his work in the South Atlantic in 1982. He was knighted in 2002 for services to journalism.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan Books (6 Feb. 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0330390120
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0330390125
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 3 x 19.7 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 1,810,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,555 in World War II D-Day Landings
- 6,370 in War & Defence Operations
- 7,063 in History of France

Customer reviews:
1,108 ratings

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Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins
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Max Hastings
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Max Hastings is the author of twenty-seven books, most of them about war. Born in London in 1945, he attended University College, Oxford before becoming a journalist. In 1967 he was a World Press Institute Fellow in the United States, then stayed to report the 1968 US election. Thereafter he worked as a reporter for BBC TV and British newspapers, covering eleven conflicts including Vietnam, the 1973 Yom Kippur war and the 1982 South Atlantic war. His first major book was BOMBER COMMAND, published in Britain and the US in 1979. He has since authored such works as VIETNAM, CATASTROPHE, ARMAGEDDON, RETRIBUTION, WINSTON'S WAR, THE KOREAN WAR AND INFERNO. Between 1986 and 2002 he served as editor-in-chief of the British Daily Telegraph, then editor of the London Evening Standard. He has won many awards both for his books and his journalism, including the 2012 $100,000 Pritzker Library prize for lifetime achievement, and the 2019 Bronze Arthur Ross medal of the US Council For Foreign Relations for VIETNAM. He lives in Berkshire, UK, with his wife Penny and has two grown-up children, Charlotte and Harry. Max says: 'I am lucky enough to have been able to earn my living doing the things I love most: travelling and hearing incredible stories from people all over the world, then writing about their experiences in war, when mankind is at both its best and worst'. Among the scariest moments of his career as a war correspondent, he cites following the embattled Israeli army on the Golan Heights in October 1973, and reporting the last weeks in Vietnam in 1975, before flying out of the US Embassy compound in its final evacuation.
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

1,108 global ratings

5 star		60%
4 star		28%
3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

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Barry

Great book and great serice

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 11 January 2023

A tremendous account

like flail tanks to clear mines and crocodile tanks fitted ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 21 July 2014

Verified Purchase

The invasion of Normandy in June 1944 is such a vast subject that several book can be written on it with little overlap. Hastings provides a wealth of information much of which I did not know. The division that hit the beach at Omaha was composed of officers who had never been in combat before. General Bradley spurned offers of British help, like flail tanks to clear mines and crocodile tanks fitted with flame throwers.The expensive and delicate Spitfire was used in ground attack simply because too many of them had been built and they had been superseded by better aircraft.

All this information is useful. But where Hastings falls down is in his judgement of the generals. The pedestrian Montgomery who had been over-promoted could not be sacked for political reasons. He was so slow-thinking ,methodical and predictable that the Germans knew what he was going to do months before he himself did.The Germans had plenty of time to prepare for Operation Goodwood. Similarly the deception plan, Fortitude, was such a success because the High Command could not believe that the main invasion was led by a second-class general while the best general was left on the sidelines.Still less would they swallow the explanation that he had been suspended for applying the age-old battlefield remedy for panic or hysteria, slaps on the cheek. But they did not know the American medical profession. Patton had slapped the soldier in a hospital!!!

This is the weakness of Hastings book. He could not accept the evaluation of Montgomery as a first class logistics expert who had the good fortune to arrive in the Western Desert at the same time as inexhaustible flow of Sherman tanks. Montgomery did not even defeat the Germans in Africa. That was done by General Kenneth Anderson of the British First Army, who was subsequently sidelined. The Germans regarded General George Patton as the only Allied soldier worth considering. But Hastings does not mention that Patton's Third Army was deliberately held back so that the pedestrian Montgomery should have priority of supplies.

Eisenhower may not have been a strategist or tactician as the tactless Montgomery repeatedly made plain to him. But he was able to manage the prima donnas among the generals even those like Montgomery who, like General MacArthur, sedulously cultivated the press..

I have often wondered if Eisenhower's failure to back the French and British troops at Suez was the result of his long forbearance with Montgomery who considered he should have Ike's job. On such matters does the fate of nations depend.

An excellent book but somewhat spoiled by misjudgements

2 people found this helpful

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Mckenzzee

GOOD READ

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 25 February 2013

Verified Purchase

Christmas present for my partner one of his interests is about the D-Day landings and how it all come together, we went to Normandy recently for a short break it was fascinating I never really understood just how significant this war was & maybe like many I never realized how much a part the Americans really played or Winston's amazing vision quite an eye opener. Obviously there's a lot more that's involved not forgetting from the British, Canadians and other nationalities and many other great things happened to achieve defeating the Germans. I've picked up the book myself & had a read it's hard going so you'd need to stick with it, what makes it much more for us is having visited many of the sites in Normandy like standing on the edge of the cliff at Pont de Hoc peering over, walking on Utah & Omaha beach and many other places somehow gives you a feeling of WOW things happened here which seem unconscionable but were essential, it makes translation of the book that more interesting. My partner say's great book may be a bit of a difficult read for a real beginner, for a seasoned D-Day veteran this book is great. It's now Sept 2013 and my partner has finally finished the book which he say's was great and thoroughly recommends

5 people found this helpful

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al488j

A great historical reference book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 24 June 2021

Verified Purchase

I am not a professional historian so I am not going to try and give an intellectual deconstruction of this book
For me personally it was a great insight of d- day and the Battle of Normandy from both sides.
Most people have an idea what d-day is all about but are unaware of the fighting that took place until the liberation of Paris.
This book describes how tough it was and how soldiers and civilians suffered.
Much of the information is obtained from interviews of people who were there, the mental stress of constant fighting is also documented and described.
This is a book I can refer back to when researching aspects of the battle and is recommended.
A definite must read along with other works if you are considering a visit to Normany when restrictions allow.

4 people found this helpful

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John Bennett

has the immediacy of news reporting.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 15 July 2013

Verified Purchase

This took me back to the 2nd World War when as a child I saw the arrival of the GIs in England with their smart uniforms and their generosity to us kids. 'Got any gum chum?' was our cry. This kind of immediacy runs throughout this book.

Hastings deals with Overlord with great conviction and fairness. The difficulties on the Allied side are not glossed over. He acknowledges that the German army was the outstanding fighting force of the Second World War: even in its much reduced capacity it put up a very stubborn resistance in Normandy. Hitler's contribution to defeat through a series of tactical errors is given due attention.

The variable quality of the Allied forces and their leadership is explored. The failure to integrate fully the objectives of the Allied air forces and armies was crucial. 'Bomber' Harris, for example, paid lip service to ground support believing - wrongly - that the bombing of German cities would bring an end to hostilities without the need for ground intervention. But the evidence from German documentation is clear: bombing focussed on petrol supplies and on oil installations would quickly have brought the German army to its knees.

Written over 30 years, but ago this account still carries weight. The main criticism I have of the Kindle version is that the maps are unreadable, even on a Kindle HD. Highly recommended nevertheless.

18 people found this helpful

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Joseph Barnes

What a fantastic read 📚👏

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 18 January 2022

Verified Purchase

The story is true and much different than Britain 🇬🇧told us, Montgomery made some battle mistakes, and l think the Americans numbers and power got them out of their mistakes, now I'm not saying the Americans don't make mistakes but the Brits were more use to War battles

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Overlord; D-day and the Battle for Normandy 1944 Paperback – 6 Feb. 2004

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Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins

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