The D-Day Companion: Leading Historians Explore History's Greatest Amphibious Assault

by Jane Penrose (Editor)

Published to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Normandy Landings, ‘The D-Day Companion’ book brings together the perspectives and opinions of leading military historians from both sides of the Atlantic. Operation Overlord saw the Allied Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery pit their wits against Hitler in a bold bid to liberate continental Europe. Featuring a foreword by Major Richard Winters, real-life commander of Easy Company as featured in Stephen E Ambrose’s ‘Band of Brothers’, this is a unique and incisive examination of the momentous events that surrounded June 6, 1944. Each chapter of this new book focuses on a different aspect of the D-Day landings, from the build-up to the attack to the experiences of the troops on the ground.

Genres: History, Military History, War, World War II, Nonfiction, Reference

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 2005

Reviews

[Robert Hepple · Rating 2 out of 5]

The front cover of this book tells you that it was produced for the D-Day Museum of New Orleans, so you know straight away that this will be very much an American perspective on the historic battle. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact it is a pleasant change from the British bias of many of the books that I have read on the subject so far. It means that Montgomery's egotism, abrasiveness and contentious decisions come in for some criticism where they might otherwise be glossed over. The book takes the form of several chapters, each written by a different historian, on a particular aspect of D-Day. There is at times a strong emphasis on the organisational structure of the Allied forces. The illustrations provided are poorly chosen and add little to the book. All in all, an extremely bland book on what should be an exciting subject.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The D day companion is a great book it gives a lot of information on the invasion of France and normandy landings. The landings are in depth with a lot of detail. You will know the exact place of german guns on the cliffs. When this started on may 27th 1940 over 338,000 troops got in to France to help with the invasion even though it would happen 4 years later. They were ready from the start and wanted to finish this war for good.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't expect a lot of on-the-ground memoirs; this is more of an over-arching view of the preparation, decision-making, and leadership roles of the generals and higher-ups. Except for the one chapter from the perspective of the German side, it was pretty dry. Of course it is a history book, an excellent reference for somebody needing to do book reports or really getting into the history of that day.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

WW2 is one of my blind spots and this helped explain a great deal about the Normandy invasion.

[Bill Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

decent book but lacking info on the French Resistances vital help in gathering intelligence on German formations and movement

[Andy Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Military strategy doesn't do it for me at all, it's the human angle of warfare and the experiences of the troops on the ground that fascinates me - and this book only briefly touches on that side of things in a collection of essays concerned with strategy, planning and wartime politics. And much of it is unfortunately repeated many times over, as each essay touches on aspects already covered in previous ones.

There are two chapters that start to give an insight into the carnage on the beaches - "A visitor to hell" (Professor Williamson Murray) and "With Unbelieving Eyes" (the German perspective from Professor Russell Hart), but these passages are only brief respites from what is essentially a rather cold discussion around the effectiveness of military strategy and planning.

Of course if that's what you're after then this is a great 'entry level' book for understanding why D-Day had to happen and how it went down. The final two chapters are also a brilliant summary of D-Day in the wider context of the war and Cold War Europe, and the way in which the landings have been commemorated over the years - bringing you right back to the human tragedy of D-Day again, often overlooked in the other essays.

[george burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

D-Day Again

In the last chapter, it is said that the importance of D-Day cannot be overestimated. However, it can and has been over written about. Thus, the authors face an overwhelming challenge to write something that is sufficiently new to be of interest. The two authors who are most successful write about Allied deception and German planning. Dr.Goulter presents a clear and compelling history of the importance of intelligence and deception without trying to oversell it. Professor Showalter manages to write an essay which makes the German point of view understandable. He also usefully integrates the role of intelligence into how the German high command perceived the problem of defense and acted on it. This is a well done book on a subject that has been overdone.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este não é mais um livro que conta cronologicamente a história do Dia D. A abordagem opta por um conjunto de ensaios detalhando alguns dos momentos, figuras, decisões e planeamento desta operação decisiva da II Guerra. Das capacidades de liderança de Eisenhower ao papel dos meteorologistas, às agruras logísticas e ao ponto de vista dos defensores alemães, mostra-nos diferentes aspectos deste momento histórico através da análise aprofundada de pequenas vinhetas.

[David Campton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published 10 years ago in anticipation of the 60th anniversary of this iconic invasion, I picked it up on the eve of the 70th anniversary. It is a series of essays by different authors leading to a fairly patchy experience, not helped by poor proof reading and the lack of tight editorial oversight. The most interesting part was the chapter offering a view from the German perspective, but generally I learned little new.

[Mark Luongo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well done collection of essays by noted military historians like Ron Drez, Carlo D'Este, Dennis Showalter & Allan Millett. Can't go wrong with a foreword by the late Major Richard Winters of Easy Company, 101st Airborne. A nice read for someone (like my brother) who needs an introduction to the topic and why it needed to take place. Brought back a lot of memories of my two trips to Normandy.

[Mark Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was slow to start, but got better as it went on. The choosing of the officers and their hierarchy did not interest me as much as the plans and actions leading up to, on the day of, and the days following D-day. I would of enjoyed a chapter on the French Resistance rather than just the few paragraphs near the end. The chapters from the German side were very interesting as well.

[Thomas Blaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent coverage of the invasion. I particularly liked how each element (leadership, air support, naval support and so on) gets its own chapter. Not every chapter was as interesting for me, but the whole was very good.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Time: D-Day: 24 Hours That Saved the World I just finished, due to its sometimes overlapping and disjointed effort as a collection of articles. Plus, the graphics of the battlefields were confusing and often included no key to interpret obtuse or obscure symbols.

[Jason Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more like 3.5 stars. A good resource--full of useful info--and an easy read, but not the most tremendous book ever.

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

All in all quite mediocre series of pedantic essays. A couple of bright spots but this is only for the most hard core military history types.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good over view from the perspective of several authors.... Interesting and thought provoking