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Countdown to D-Day: The German Perspective
In December 1943, with the rising realization that the Allies are planning to invade Fortress Europe, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is assigned the title of General Inspector for the Atlantic Wall. His mission is to assess their readiness.
His superior, theater commander, crusty old Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who had led the Reich to victory in the early years of the war, is now fed up with the whole Nazi regime. He lives comfortably in a plush villa in a quiet Paris suburb, waiting for the inevitable Allied invasion that will bring about their final defeat.
General der Artillerie Erich Marcks, badly injured in Russia, is the corps commander on the ground in Normandy, trying to build up the coastal defenses with woefully inadequate supplies and a shortage of men to fulfill Rommel's demands. Marcks is convinced that the Allies will land in his sector, but no one higher up the chain of command seems interested in what he thinks.
Countdown to D-Day takes a detailed day-to-day journal approach, tracing the daily activities and machinations of the German High Command as they try to prepare for the Allied invasion.
His superior, theater commander, crusty old Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who had led the Reich to victory in the early years of the war, is now fed up with the whole Nazi regime. He lives comfortably in a plush villa in a quiet Paris suburb, waiting for the inevitable Allied invasion that will bring about their final defeat.
General der Artillerie Erich Marcks, badly injured in Russia, is the corps commander on the ground in Normandy, trying to build up the coastal defenses with woefully inadequate supplies and a shortage of men to fulfill Rommel's demands. Marcks is convinced that the Allies will land in his sector, but no one higher up the chain of command seems interested in what he thinks.
Countdown to D-Day takes a detailed day-to-day journal approach, tracing the daily activities and machinations of the German High Command as they try to prepare for the Allied invasion.
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Published October 8, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 17, 2020
The Wehrmacht politics in the days and months before the Allied invasion can be summarised in just one question: where to place the Panzer divisions. Rommel, who already knows from his Afrikakorps days what devastating effect the Allied air supremacy can have on a Panzer division on the move to the beaches, wants to have them as near to the beach as possible. Von Rundstedt wants to have them inland, as a mobile strategic reserve force.
Rommel, who nowadays would probably be diagnosed with a healthy dose of ADHD, spends the days preparing for the invasion by making trips to the coast, where he lits the fire under the feet of the local commanders ordering them to make more mines, more stakes in the fields and more beach obstacles.
Preparations are made expecting the Allies to land at the high water mark, which - according to Rommels logic - creates less open space to charge across and easier to get over the low tide obstacles. The inevitable paratroop landings would require a full moon. However, at the end of May, Rommel suddenly changes his mind and expects a low tide landing, allowing the combination of low tide and full moon to a few days, 5-12 June and around the 20th of June. With the German meteorological army service predicting storm, Rommel decides to leave for his wife’s birthday. The rest is history.
What makes this book deserve a 5 star rating is the fact that it gives a good insight in the Wehrmacht politics, the roles between the different armies, OKW and Hitler. The narrative style and chronological order makes it really readable and easy to understand for the lay person. It is also packed with anecdotes and gives a good insight to the prospect of the invasion towards the wider picture, such as the operations in Italy and the Eastern Front.
All in all truly deserving its 5 star rating and especially recommended as a counterweight against the other books covering D-day, as they inadvertently focus on the Allied perspective, instead of the Axis one.
Rommel, who nowadays would probably be diagnosed with a healthy dose of ADHD, spends the days preparing for the invasion by making trips to the coast, where he lits the fire under the feet of the local commanders ordering them to make more mines, more stakes in the fields and more beach obstacles.
Preparations are made expecting the Allies to land at the high water mark, which - according to Rommels logic - creates less open space to charge across and easier to get over the low tide obstacles. The inevitable paratroop landings would require a full moon. However, at the end of May, Rommel suddenly changes his mind and expects a low tide landing, allowing the combination of low tide and full moon to a few days, 5-12 June and around the 20th of June. With the German meteorological army service predicting storm, Rommel decides to leave for his wife’s birthday. The rest is history.
What makes this book deserve a 5 star rating is the fact that it gives a good insight in the Wehrmacht politics, the roles between the different armies, OKW and Hitler. The narrative style and chronological order makes it really readable and easy to understand for the lay person. It is also packed with anecdotes and gives a good insight to the prospect of the invasion towards the wider picture, such as the operations in Italy and the Eastern Front.
All in all truly deserving its 5 star rating and especially recommended as a counterweight against the other books covering D-day, as they inadvertently focus on the Allied perspective, instead of the Axis one.
May 8, 2024
Based mostly on Erwin Rommel's diaries, this is exactly what the title promises: We count down the months, then weeks, then days, and finally, the hours until the Allied D-Day invasion, but from the German point of view. Will they invade? Will they not? Certainly not this week - the weather's crap. Whoops! Well, that's a diversion, right? No?
Earlier on, the details of Rommel's road trips to all of the potential landing sites for an Allied beachhead assault was a bit tiring, so I had to put the book aside from time to time, but once we got into June and encountered Hitler's cocky sychophants and one or two higher-ranking folks looking to just save face for Germany without Hitler at the helm, reading was an absolute breeze.
Earlier on, the details of Rommel's road trips to all of the potential landing sites for an Allied beachhead assault was a bit tiring, so I had to put the book aside from time to time, but once we got into June and encountered Hitler's cocky sychophants and one or two higher-ranking folks looking to just save face for Germany without Hitler at the helm, reading was an absolute breeze.
July 22, 2019
My rating is closer to a 4.5 than a 4. Overall, a very interesting and informative book on a topic that has been covered in great detail on the Allied side, but less so (at least, from what I have seen) on the German. The writing is fine and I do not share others' comments about the need for editing. A couple of points that make this book somewhat unusual:
1. The writing is in the present tense. The author explains why in an introduction. The tense is not a problem, but it does take a bit to get used to it.
2. There is a ton of footnotes, at the end of each section (and there are a lot of sections, too). You will find yourself flipping back and forth. Again, not a problem, but not typical in a book like this. The footnotes themselves are very informative and should not be missed.
3. Without creating a "spoiler," you will see Mr. Margaritis has definite views on some of the major players, especially Field Marshal von Rundstadt. The author sets out very clearly (perhaps repeating them a little too often) the dramatic differences between Rommel and von Rundstadt in how to deal with the forthcoming Allied invasion and interestingly does not draw any conclusion as to which approach would have been better (this allows the reader to reach his/her own).
4. My one concern (which led to a less-than-five-star review) is the author's setting out what he thinks is the interior thinking of the major players, especially Rommel and von Rundstadt. What a person is thinking isn't always completely consistent with what he says or does, and I am a little skeptical that what Mr. Margaritis says a character is thinking is accurate.
Overall, a book I had a hard time putting down. I learned a lot and enjoyed it in the process - made for a good read!!
1. The writing is in the present tense. The author explains why in an introduction. The tense is not a problem, but it does take a bit to get used to it.
2. There is a ton of footnotes, at the end of each section (and there are a lot of sections, too). You will find yourself flipping back and forth. Again, not a problem, but not typical in a book like this. The footnotes themselves are very informative and should not be missed.
3. Without creating a "spoiler," you will see Mr. Margaritis has definite views on some of the major players, especially Field Marshal von Rundstadt. The author sets out very clearly (perhaps repeating them a little too often) the dramatic differences between Rommel and von Rundstadt in how to deal with the forthcoming Allied invasion and interestingly does not draw any conclusion as to which approach would have been better (this allows the reader to reach his/her own).
4. My one concern (which led to a less-than-five-star review) is the author's setting out what he thinks is the interior thinking of the major players, especially Rommel and von Rundstadt. What a person is thinking isn't always completely consistent with what he says or does, and I am a little skeptical that what Mr. Margaritis says a character is thinking is accurate.
Overall, a book I had a hard time putting down. I learned a lot and enjoyed it in the process - made for a good read!!
September 28, 2024
2.5 stars [History]
(W: 2.72, U: 2.47, T: 2.82)
Exact rating: 2.67
Margaritis strung together individual events, telephone calls, and diary entries into a sort of narrative, delivered chronologically from December 1943 to June 6, 1944. It moved along, and didn't get caught up in too many details (although this was to the detriment of its final utility). We also got to know a few characters well—particularly Rommel, von Rundstedt, and Speidel. Recommended only to the WWII buff.
_______
//W pac 3.5, lex 2.63 (German terminology), syn 2.5, sem 2.75, -1/8 total for mild repetition
//U 2.47, +1/8 for personality profiles, -1/8 for constant loose ends/too-brief context
//T 2.82 (2.5 to 3.13)
(W: 2.72, U: 2.47, T: 2.82)
Exact rating: 2.67
Margaritis strung together individual events, telephone calls, and diary entries into a sort of narrative, delivered chronologically from December 1943 to June 6, 1944. It moved along, and didn't get caught up in too many details (although this was to the detriment of its final utility). We also got to know a few characters well—particularly Rommel, von Rundstedt, and Speidel. Recommended only to the WWII buff.
_______
//W pac 3.5, lex 2.63 (German terminology), syn 2.5, sem 2.75, -1/8 total for mild repetition
//U 2.47, +1/8 for personality profiles, -1/8 for constant loose ends/too-brief context
//T 2.82 (2.5 to 3.13)
December 11, 2024
Decent read for WWII aficionados, written as a narrative from the German point of view.
The author gives it a valiant try, concocts an essentially interesting, fact-filled narrative focused on the doings of Rommel as the main protagonist and his role in the defence of the French coastline.
Being an avid consumer of historical fiction, I like history written as narrative. Regardless of the necessity for the author to exercise the novelist’s art to fill in the spaces with imagination and educated guesswork. Or, maybe because of it, as it usually allows the history to come alive for me, be more immediate & palpable. Perhaps, it is because I lack a true gut feeling or innate sense of history. This shortcoming requires a certain “serve it up to me on a plate” style to make it real for me.
Otherwise, works of history are often reduced to mere shopping lists of dates and snippets of time-based occurrences.
Unfortunately, although the author tries his best, he doesn’t quite pull off the trick and the characters in this historical recreation come off a bit wooden and distant.
The writing is competent but not compelling, it is well researched but the delivery feels sporadic and leaves me unsure of what interest it might hold for the general reader looking for an engrossing & entertaining read.
The author gives it a valiant try, concocts an essentially interesting, fact-filled narrative focused on the doings of Rommel as the main protagonist and his role in the defence of the French coastline.
Being an avid consumer of historical fiction, I like history written as narrative. Regardless of the necessity for the author to exercise the novelist’s art to fill in the spaces with imagination and educated guesswork. Or, maybe because of it, as it usually allows the history to come alive for me, be more immediate & palpable. Perhaps, it is because I lack a true gut feeling or innate sense of history. This shortcoming requires a certain “serve it up to me on a plate” style to make it real for me.
Otherwise, works of history are often reduced to mere shopping lists of dates and snippets of time-based occurrences.
Unfortunately, although the author tries his best, he doesn’t quite pull off the trick and the characters in this historical recreation come off a bit wooden and distant.
The writing is competent but not compelling, it is well researched but the delivery feels sporadic and leaves me unsure of what interest it might hold for the general reader looking for an engrossing & entertaining read.
September 23, 2025
This is why I love military history. I'm absolutely fascinated by the top level decision-making stuff, and this book delivers transports full of it. I particularly appreciated the use of present tense - it provides a sense of immediacy which in turn makes the characters and their challenges powerfully real. I wish more history was written like this!
January 9, 2024
I have read a lot of books on D-Day but mostly from the Allies perspective. This book looks at preparation from the German perspective. The book is more of a day to day journal of Edwin Rommel's efforts to prepare the so called Atlantic Wall for the anticipated allied invasion of France. The book starts in December 1943 and follows him up until D-Day in June 1944. You get idea of the slave labor that was used to make it. You get a detailed descriptions of French chateaux and mansions where commanding officers lived and worked. You get a good sense of the infighting and jealousies among top generals. If there is one important narrative in this mass of detail, it is about General Rommel, who comes across as a decent human being, a man to whom all who have served under him are fiercely devoted. One thing I noticed the author glorifies his leadership as he prepares for the June invasion, and dances around his involvement in the July plot to kill Hitler. Thus, it is surprising that after the D-Day narrative, no mention of Rommel's tragic end a few months later is made.
It took some time for me to get use to reading this book as a diary. At the end of each chapter the author footnotes everything which helped to bring all the information together for a better understanding. The vast majority of books on the topic focus either on the Allies preparation or events from D-Day onwards, and certainly that is where most of the action was. But this work, which focuses on the superhuman efforts that Rommel and his staff undertook to try and put up some sort of defensive front in the months before the invasion, is utterly compelling. I would highly recommend it if you never read anything about it from the German's perspective.
It took some time for me to get use to reading this book as a diary. At the end of each chapter the author footnotes everything which helped to bring all the information together for a better understanding. The vast majority of books on the topic focus either on the Allies preparation or events from D-Day onwards, and certainly that is where most of the action was. But this work, which focuses on the superhuman efforts that Rommel and his staff undertook to try and put up some sort of defensive front in the months before the invasion, is utterly compelling. I would highly recommend it if you never read anything about it from the German's perspective.
January 5, 2021
An interesting read...
I liked this book because it was neither a dry recitation nor a dense analysis of the facts. The author humanizes the major characters, some of whom are (for want of a better term) larger-than-life figures.
Having grown up with someone who was on the wrong side of the war and who had been in situations similar to what middle-ranking German officers faced the language seemed appropriate.
That being said, perhaps the author should not have “put words in their mouths.”
In addition I did find one glaring error among several: at one point Hitler is described as looking forward to a meeting with three leaders of Eastern Europe: Horthy of Hungary, Antonescu of Romania and Tito of Czechoslovakia.
Tito was NOT the leader of Czechoslovakia, he was the leader of anti-German communist partisans in Yugoslavia!
There were a number of typos as well, something I would not have expected of a finished product and for which I blame the editors, not the author.
Hence, why I give this otherwise interesting book a three-star rating instead of four stars.
I liked this book because it was neither a dry recitation nor a dense analysis of the facts. The author humanizes the major characters, some of whom are (for want of a better term) larger-than-life figures.
Having grown up with someone who was on the wrong side of the war and who had been in situations similar to what middle-ranking German officers faced the language seemed appropriate.
That being said, perhaps the author should not have “put words in their mouths.”
In addition I did find one glaring error among several: at one point Hitler is described as looking forward to a meeting with three leaders of Eastern Europe: Horthy of Hungary, Antonescu of Romania and Tito of Czechoslovakia.
Tito was NOT the leader of Czechoslovakia, he was the leader of anti-German communist partisans in Yugoslavia!
There were a number of typos as well, something I would not have expected of a finished product and for which I blame the editors, not the author.
Hence, why I give this otherwise interesting book a three-star rating instead of four stars.
Read
March 29, 2021This is a well written and very detailed book. It is a day-by-day chronicle of the build-up of the German defenses during World War 2 along the coast of Western Europe before and during the Allied invasion. The book highlights the power struggles between some of the generals and the differences of opinion as to where the expected invasion would occur. The author gave a good account of the mistakes and errors in judgement made by the German military leaders at the beginning of the invasion which contributed to the success of the invasion.
This book was of special interest to me. I was aboard the destroyer, USS Murphy DD603, off Omaha Beach, Normandy, for D-Day and the following sixteen days.
Donald Ray Cobb, author of "The Lady with a Shamrock."
This book was of special interest to me. I was aboard the destroyer, USS Murphy DD603, off Omaha Beach, Normandy, for D-Day and the following sixteen days.
Donald Ray Cobb, author of "The Lady with a Shamrock."
October 4, 2025
Το βιβλίο αποτελεί μια λεπτομερή καταγραφή της προετοιμασίας της Γερμανικής ανώτατης διοίκησης στη Δύση κατά τους κρίσιμους μήνες πριν από την Απόβαση των συμμάχων στη Νορμανδία, καταγράφοντας μέρα με τη μέρα τις προσπάθειες του Στρατάρχη Ρόμελ να οργανώσει την άμυνα του Τείχους του Ατλαντικού.
Προσφέρει μια ματιά στις προκλήσεις που αντιμετώπιζε η Γερμανική πλευρά, περιγράφοντας με σαφήνεια: Την ανεπάρκεια του Τείχους του Ατλαντικού, τις ελλείψεις σε εφόδια και προσωπικό, τις αντικρουόμενες στρατηγικές για την τοποθέτηση των τεθωρακισμένων μονάδων, την επίδραση των διαταγών του Χίτλερ στην επιχειρησιακή πραγματικότητα του μετώπου, τις διαφωνίες των στρατηγών κλπ, εξηγώντας γιατί η Γερμανική αντίδραση ήταν καταδικασμένη εκ των προτέρων να αποτύχει.
Προσφέρει μια ματιά στις προκλήσεις που αντιμετώπιζε η Γερμανική πλευρά, περιγράφοντας με σαφήνεια: Την ανεπάρκεια του Τείχους του Ατλαντικού, τις ελλείψεις σε εφόδια και προσωπικό, τις αντικρουόμενες στρατηγικές για την τοποθέτηση των τεθωρακισμένων μονάδων, την επίδραση των διαταγών του Χίτλερ στην επιχειρησιακή πραγματικότητα του μετώπου, τις διαφωνίες των στρατηγών κλπ, εξηγώντας γιατί η Γερμανική αντίδραση ήταν καταδικασμένη εκ των προτέρων να αποτύχει.
March 5, 2021
As far as books evolving around the Normandy battle go this is one of the better ones.
Especially since it is from the German perspective.
If you are going for the audio version ( like I did) bare in mind ( and deduct 2 stars) that the narrator ( Roger Clark ) has one of the worst pronunciations of French and German towns/names I have ever heard.
Which is a real inconvenience since the whole story plays out in French and German towns and a lot of characters are of German origin.
What was the publisher thinking ? ! And this is the publishers fault, not Roger Clark. He probably is thank full for the work.
Especially since it is from the German perspective.
If you are going for the audio version ( like I did) bare in mind ( and deduct 2 stars) that the narrator ( Roger Clark ) has one of the worst pronunciations of French and German towns/names I have ever heard.
Which is a real inconvenience since the whole story plays out in French and German towns and a lot of characters are of German origin.
What was the publisher thinking ? ! And this is the publishers fault, not Roger Clark. He probably is thank full for the work.
October 7, 2025
Fantastic, deeply personal, and riveting day-to-day account of the months leading up to D-Day. Focus is on the OKW. The weary but indomitable legend Rommel's point of view forms the main narrative, although the book does not shy away from introducing important characters and gives backstories in the epic tradition. I thought I was picking up a straightforward piece of operational literature, but instead is gripping narrative biographic history. Gets a bit repetitive to the end, and I wish that the days immediately after D-Day were also touched on to give more context on the characters.
July 9, 2022
Interesting and well-researched
Author did a lot of research to document the German side of the story. Got a little too detailed when Rommel is inspecting the defenses day after day. The book really showed the confusion during the fog of war during D-Day. Easy to read. Good book.
Author did a lot of research to document the German side of the story. Got a little too detailed when Rommel is inspecting the defenses day after day. The book really showed the confusion during the fog of war during D-Day. Easy to read. Good book.
July 26, 2025
This book is very thorough and detailed and I like that the notes are in each section so the reader doesn’t need to skip back and forth from the back of the book. That said, it was monotonous at times and not as enlightening as I expected.
August 15, 2021
A very useful book, detailing an aspect of D-day not usually considered to any great detail in other books.
April 9, 2022
Superb storytelling from personal perspective of German generals on the Western front.
December 1, 2024
This is a collection of the individual accounts of more famous people. Lazy and uninspiring at best
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews