Drawing D - Day: An Artist's Journey Through War

by Ugo Giannini, Maxine Giannini

On June 6, 1944, Ugo Giannini landed on Omaha Beach at H+70 minutes as one of a platoon of military police assigned to the 29th Division. Ugo's team was to control the incoming traffic. There were thirty-seven men in his platoon; they were decimated in the first ten minutes. Six men got to the beach. Someone told Ugo that he was needed on the bluff above. He climbed the Vierville Draw, jumped into a crater made by naval bombardment, and spent that day and part of the next day as an eyewitness to the greatest invasion ever conceived by the military. Remarkably, he began to draw. These are the only drawings made that historic day, as well as the next. This book is the story of one man, in the context of World War II; a man who was a poet, an artist, and had the strength of a boxer. A civilian used to the comforts and hysteria of an immigrant Italian family, in love with his childhood sweetheart, plunged into the hell of war. Presented here are the sketches from that historic day and the days that immediately followed. Drawn in pencil and pen, in a gritty, realist style, the images show heavily burdened infantrymen trying to stay afloat in the seawater, crawling on the beach or dead among the ruins of a bombed-out village. Interwoven with letters home written by a young man to his family and his girlfriend, the words and images portray the horror of war in a deep and personal way. The abstract paintings that appear at the end of the book provide a powerful statement, composed years after the initial experience, about the complete disintegration, both physical and spiritual, caused by war.

196 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

Reviews

[John Purvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Ugo Giannini published the novel “Drawing D - Day: An Artist's Journey Through War” in 2013. This was his only publication.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’. This is the story of Ugo Giannini and his wartime experiences.

Giannini was an artist. He was part of a Military Police unit landed at Normandy on D-Day. Only 6 of his platoon of 37 made it ashore. He used his artistic abilities to make drawings on D-Day and throughout the war. Included in this book are some of these drawings. Most of the book consists of letters Giannin wrote to his girlfriend and family.

Most of his letters reflect his dark feelings about the war. While he was never wounded, many around him are killed or wounded.

I thought that the 5+ hours I spent reading this 196-page non-fiction book. The included drawings were good, but there were fewer than I expected. For me, the many letters became tiresome to read as they repeated his depression. I do like the selected cover art. I give this book a 3 out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary personal book with the drawings and personal letters of the author, Ugo Giannini. Giannini landed with the U.S. Army's 29th Infantry Division on D-Day. What's remarkable is that he was able to sneak moments here and there to sketch the scenes of the battlefield and his fellow soldiers. The drawings portray an intensity of emotion different from a photograph. The book is interspersed with Giannini's personal letters home to his family and girlfriend as well as light narratives at the beginning of each chapter. The letters provide a level of emotional intensity, especially for girlfriend, Rene. The final section contains Giannini's paintings he did in the last decades of his life. Remarkably, he traveled from the beaches of Normandy to the German surrender on the banks of the Elbe without a scratch.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and interesting book about D-Day. It gives a lot of insight, both in terms of context, drawings, letters, poems and so on.