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Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Battle #1
Le Jour J "Ils débarquent!" (Volume 6 da "Histoire Ilustrée de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale"
Bản dịch của Vĩnh Bối và Nguyễn Hoàng Đan
210 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1968
About the author
Reginald William Thompson
44 books1904-1977
Born in 1904; educated at Merchant Taylors' School; worked as a Lloyds marine broker from 1921-1925; began to write professionally while travelling in Argentina and Australia; worked as an author and feature writer on UK depressed areas, 1930-1939; worked as a special correspondent with The Morning Post for which he covered the Gran Chaco War, 1935-1936; on the outbreak of war in 1939 he joined the fire brigade and enlisted in the ranks in 1940; promoted to Capt in 1941, transferred to the Intelligence Corps for training; 1944 worked as a censor and a report writer on the mental and physical health of the 'D' Day forces; later in 1944 was released from the Army to work as war correspondent for The Sunday Times in Western Europe; travelled extensively in post war Europe and attended the Nuremberg trials; employed as a war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph during the Korean War; in 1951 settled in Suffolk to write full time on military subjects; his writing was highly regarded by his close friends Maj Sir Desmond John Falkiner Morton and Maj Gen Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan (formerly Eric Edward Dorman Smith) and by Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart to whom he turned for professional advice and criticism, however his books never achieved critical success and he suffered from ill health and financial difficulties; died 1977. Publications: Argentine Interlude. The first roll of a rolling stone (Duckworth, London,1931); Down Under. An Australian Odyssey (Duckworth, London, 1932); Glory Hole (Duckworth, London, 1933); Wild Animal Man (Duckworth, London, 1934); Land of To-Morrow A story of South America, (Duckworth, London, 1936); To-Morrow We Live (Duckworth, London, 1936); An Englishman Looks at Wales (Arrowsmith, London, 1937); Home in Ham (Arrowsmith, Bristol,1938); Portrait of a Patriot.The story of the early life and rise to power of Juan Manuel de Rosas (Collins, London, Glasgow, 1939); Voice from the Wilderness. Being a record of my search for El Dorado and of those who have sought and found new lives (Faber & Faber, London, 1940); Germans and Japs in South America (Faber & Faber, London, 1942); Men Under Fire (Macdonald, London, 1946); Black Caribbean (Macdonald, London, 1946); Devil at my Heels. The record of a journey through Europe from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea in the aftermath of war (Macdonald, London, 1947); Voice from the Wilderness (Macdonald, London, 1947); Cry Korea (White Lion Publishers, 1974; Hamilton, London, 1956; Macdonald, London, 1951); 9 A.B. The challenge (Spalding & Levy, London, 1953); The Pink House in Angel Street, The story of a family (Dennis Dobson, London, 1954); Dieppe at dawn (White Lion Publishers, London, 1972; Hutchinson, London, 1956); The Eighty-Five Days (Four Square Books, London 1960; Hutchinson, London, 1957); The Battle for the Rhineland (Hutchinson, London, 1958); Boy in Blinkers (Robert Hale, London,1959); The Price of Victory (Constable, London, 1960); The Yankee Marlborough (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1963); An Echo of Trumpets (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1964); Spearhead of invasion: D-Day (Pan Books, London, 1972; Macdonald, London 1968); Montgomery, the Field Marshal: a critical study of the generalship of Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G., and of the campaign in North-West Europe, 1944/45, (Allen & Unwin, London, 1969); Generalissimo Churchill (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1973); Churchill and Morton, the quest for insight in the correspondence of Major Sir Desmond Morton and the author R W Thompson (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1976).
Born in 1904; educated at Merchant Taylors' School; worked as a Lloyds marine broker from 1921-1925; began to write professionally while travelling in Argentina and Australia; worked as an author and feature writer on UK depressed areas, 1930-1939; worked as a special correspondent with The Morning Post for which he covered the Gran Chaco War, 1935-1936; on the outbreak of war in 1939 he joined the fire brigade and enlisted in the ranks in 1940; promoted to Capt in 1941, transferred to the Intelligence Corps for training; 1944 worked as a censor and a report writer on the mental and physical health of the 'D' Day forces; later in 1944 was released from the Army to work as war correspondent for The Sunday Times in Western Europe; travelled extensively in post war Europe and attended the Nuremberg trials; employed as a war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph during the Korean War; in 1951 settled in Suffolk to write full time on military subjects; his writing was highly regarded by his close friends Maj Sir Desmond John Falkiner Morton and Maj Gen Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan (formerly Eric Edward Dorman Smith) and by Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart to whom he turned for professional advice and criticism, however his books never achieved critical success and he suffered from ill health and financial difficulties; died 1977. Publications: Argentine Interlude. The first roll of a rolling stone (Duckworth, London,1931); Down Under. An Australian Odyssey (Duckworth, London, 1932); Glory Hole (Duckworth, London, 1933); Wild Animal Man (Duckworth, London, 1934); Land of To-Morrow A story of South America, (Duckworth, London, 1936); To-Morrow We Live (Duckworth, London, 1936); An Englishman Looks at Wales (Arrowsmith, London, 1937); Home in Ham (Arrowsmith, Bristol,1938); Portrait of a Patriot.The story of the early life and rise to power of Juan Manuel de Rosas (Collins, London, Glasgow, 1939); Voice from the Wilderness. Being a record of my search for El Dorado and of those who have sought and found new lives (Faber & Faber, London, 1940); Germans and Japs in South America (Faber & Faber, London, 1942); Men Under Fire (Macdonald, London, 1946); Black Caribbean (Macdonald, London, 1946); Devil at my Heels. The record of a journey through Europe from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea in the aftermath of war (Macdonald, London, 1947); Voice from the Wilderness (Macdonald, London, 1947); Cry Korea (White Lion Publishers, 1974; Hamilton, London, 1956; Macdonald, London, 1951); 9 A.B. The challenge (Spalding & Levy, London, 1953); The Pink House in Angel Street, The story of a family (Dennis Dobson, London, 1954); Dieppe at dawn (White Lion Publishers, London, 1972; Hutchinson, London, 1956); The Eighty-Five Days (Four Square Books, London 1960; Hutchinson, London, 1957); The Battle for the Rhineland (Hutchinson, London, 1958); Boy in Blinkers (Robert Hale, London,1959); The Price of Victory (Constable, London, 1960); The Yankee Marlborough (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1963); An Echo of Trumpets (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1964); Spearhead of invasion: D-Day (Pan Books, London, 1972; Macdonald, London 1968); Montgomery, the Field Marshal: a critical study of the generalship of Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G., and of the campaign in North-West Europe, 1944/45, (Allen & Unwin, London, 1969); Generalissimo Churchill (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1973); Churchill and Morton, the quest for insight in the correspondence of Major Sir Desmond Morton and the author R W Thompson (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1976).
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May 22, 2026
Operation Overlord was the battle that saved civilization and turned war from a clash of armies into machines conquering machines and the full mechanization of death. When you thought it was safe to go into the waters of Normandy on June 6, 1944, a tale told a million times and then some, R.W. Thompson, a British World War II veteran, found something new and exciting to say on a date that changed the course of history. His views on the preparations for D-Day in Britain, Eisenhower's leadership, the tasks facing Montgomery, whom Ike put in charge of all Allied ground forces, the roles of Hitler, Rommel, and von Runstedt on "the longest day", and what it was like to wash ashore in a sea of flames are contentious, infuriating, and fuel for heated discussion today.
Storming Hitler's in 1944, Fortress Europa seemed an awesome challenge to the Allies. Hitler still had a considerable number of troops stationed from the Arctic Circle to the Black Sea, and the Isle of Rhodes to the Bay of Biscay. Eisenhower had to prepare for all eventualities and win the battle on the first day. Part of the gift of this book is showing the great role that labor in Britain played in forging the vast armada required to capture the Normandy beachhead by dusk on D-Day. All day and night, factories and foundries burned with the heat of forging tanks, planes, artificial harbors, the famous Mulberries, rifles, bullets, and more peaceful but essential weapons of war, including medical supplies, food, and uniforms. If British working women and men, who had pledged to work overtime and launch no strikes during the war, had not won this battle of production, the invasion might have taken an ugly turn. The Brits resented sharing crowded spaces on the roads, in restaurants and pubs, with the Yanks, but Eisenhower saw to it that no serious friction should erupt between American troops and English civilians. It was one thing for an American to call a fellow officer "a son of a bitch", and quite another to call him "a British S.O.B." Those Yanks who did got sacked.
What strange new weapons of war came out of Britain's assembly lines! Tanks, dubbed DDs, that could float on water, two Mulberries to receive troops and supplies on the beach that first day, vehicles that exploded mines in front them, others that laid steel tracks for incoming tanks, artillery pieces to knock out enemy pill boxes on the bluffs above Normandy, and anti-tank weapons to wipe out the feared Panzer counterattack. The Germans would be as stunned at these weapons as the Aztecs facing Spanish muskets and cannons. Long before the day of battle, Fortress Europe had to be immobilized and smashed from the Ruhr to the Mediterranean. The U.S. Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force relentlessly bombed German arms factories, the occupied port cities of France and Belgium, the new V-1 rocket launching sites at Peenemunde, and German radar stations. Luftwaffe Fighter Command had been almost entirely driven from the skies by Allied bombing of German airfields before D-Day. Naval bombardments kept U-Boats pent up in port and away from the beaches. The most important target, of course, was railroads. By crippling the railroad network throughout France, the Low Countries, and Germany, the Allies ensured that even if the Germans correctly guessed the site and day of the landings, they could not move tanks and troops tither in time to crush the Allied advance. The coup de grace to physical attacks on German targets was the silent war of misinformation. Allied radio stations sent phony messages to non-existent armies in England and the French underground, while cryptographers passed on bogus codes sure to be picked up by the Germans. In the summer of 1944, the German front in France was incapacitated, confused, and without viable and reliable communications.
Could the invasion have failed? Thompson does not go in for counterfactuals, but it's clear from his account that only a "divine wind" storm, like the Kamikaze that saved Japan from the Mongol navy, could have deterred Overlord. Nothing was left to chance before June 6. Allied meteorologists read hourly weather reports from Norway to Spain. Soil samples brought back from Normandy by commandos were tested to make sure the beach could hold tank treads. The men awaiting orders in England were tested by battle exercises on beaches using live ammo. Mini-submarines penetrated the French coast to examine the state of underwater defenses. The landing craft, boats and barges, received trial runs in the English Channel. Air, sea, and earth were turned into Eisenhower's partners in victory. The Germans knew of this activity, of course, through their spies in Britain and over land flights, and still completely misread the signals of what was happening. They were convinced, for instance, that the invasion fleet, no matter where it landed, could only sail at high tide; a disastrous assumption, as it turned out. Out of such careful planning and faulty reasoning on the enemy side rested the fate of Overlord.
All of this tight preparation would have gone to naught without a Supreme Commander to direct Overlord. Eisenhower, by practice rather than predisposition, had learned the dictum that Harry Truman later said all leaders must bear: the capacity and willingness to say "no". He turned aside proposals by his own Air Corps chiefs, Carl Spaatz and "Hap" Arnold, that air power alone could lead to victory in France. Ike vetoed Churchill's suggestion that D-Day be postponed until an Allied triumph was certain; nothing is certain in war. Everything is a gamble. He also said "no" to Churchill on calling off Operation Anvil, the Allied landings on the French Riviera set to follow Overlord. General Mark Clark in Italy wanted more landing crafts to finish the conquest of the Italian Peninsula. Ike nixed that idea, too. Finally, he overrode the counsels of his own staff, British and American, and decided to launch D-Day on June 6, when meteorologists advised him the window of opportunity for a cross-Channel invasion would be closed. Thompson is much less reverential towards General Omar Bradley, whom he accuses of "sour grapes" for Montgomery getting the overall command of ground troops.
Under constant bombardment by the Allies, with their air force and navy largely useless, and taking blow after blow on the Eastern Front, where Stalin had prepared Operation Bagatrion, the destruction of Army Group Center in coordination with the Allied landings, the Germans made things worse by their divided command in France and opposing views on how to crush the invasion. Theoretically, the German army in France fielded sixty divisions in June of 1944. Thompson shows conclusively that fully-equipped and ready to mobilize for combat divisions amounted to fifteen, at most. One proof of this is that Hitler, contrary to his own racial theories, permitted the recruitment of foreign legions into the Wehrmacht, where they made up at least ten percent of all infantry. Such a debilitated army could not defend a front line that extended from Pas de Calais to the Pyrenees. The pitiful situation regarding ground troops was aggravated by the lack of enough bunkers, pill boxes, mines, and artillery to cover all potential landing spots. Hitler's Atlantic Wall rested on extremely weak foundations. Confronted with an invasion force ready to land in France, the Commander of the Western Front, von Runstedt, and the commander of the coastal beach areas, Rommel, to whom Hitler granted wide autonomy, were completely at odds on strategy. Runstedt belied the landing would come at Pas de Calais and that since the beaches were sure to fall to the enemy on the first day, it was best to lure him inward into France and destroy the Allied armies by the use of Panzers. Rommel correctly guessed the landing would occur at Normandy, a view shared by Hitler, and that the Allies must not be allowed to get off the beach. If they did, the advance into France would be unstoppable. Hitler, as usual in making tough military decisions, chose a middle course that proved to be ruinous. The Panzers would be held back until the exact place and size of the landing force was determined, and then either Runstedt or Rommel could utilize them, but only at the Führer's discretion. The popular belief that Hitler was under a sleeping pill when the Normandy landings took place is correct, but even if he had been awake, and Rommel in France rather than at home in Germany with his wife on June 6, Hitler's division of powers between his two commanders would still have wreaked havoc with the Wehrmacht's response. Plus, the overwhelming firepower of the Allies, combined with total command of sea and air, leaves little doubt that, regardless of whether Rommel or Runstedt had prevailed in their debate, a successful German counteroffensive was not in the cards.
The story of the landings at Normandy on June 6 has been ably told by, among others, Cornelius Ryan in THE LONGEST DAY and Paul Carrel from the German side in INVASION! THEY'RE COMING, and need not be regurgitated, yet this is still gripping history. Thompson waxes eloquently on what war felt like for the first wave of invaders on five beaches: Utah and Omaha (American sector) and Juno, Gold, and Sword (British and Canadian sector): Twenty-four hours locked inside a landing craft and sea sick the whole time, followed by horror and chaos upon hitting the shore. Behind the men were giant waves that at times swallowed one's friends, and on the beach, the fire of German guns and mines left burning steel to left and right, and the men, without their equipment right behind them, would be hunched over targets. The machines dictated whether you lived or died. Just the right triangle of backing fire from naval guns and aircraft overhead, Allied infantry blasting away at over the over-the-hill German embankments, and one's own puny weapons aimed at everything not instantly recognized, was the only recipe for getting off the beach. That is, provided sappers cleared the mines ahead, and German gunners were blinded by the smoke thrown up by the air forces and the battle itself. All five landings proved successful, but each encountered special problems, to which we now turn.
The first troops to land in Normandy before dawn on June 6 came from the air. Eisenhower tasked British airborne commandos and the men of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions with the capture of transportation routes. Thompson regards this mission as so vital he devotes two chapters to it. The Americans at Utah and Omaha had to take the bridges leading away from the beach and towards the Cherbourg Peninsula, a must-have for its natural harbor, since the Mulberries could only serve for the first few weeks of Overlord. One town, however, had to be captured immediately, and long before the Germans would have time to react. Mixed elements of the 101st and 82nd dropped down at night on St Mere Eglise, where roads leading to Utah and Omaha crossed paths. Despite heavy casualties, the Americans succeeded in denying the Germans what might have turned into a highway of death. British paratroopers received the assignment to seize the roads leading in and out of Caen, which Montgomery pledged to capture on the first day. The German counteroffensive against the entire beach head was expected to originate here. British commandos dropped swift from the air, but Montgomery's army, in a foreshadowing of Operation Market Garden in Holland later that year, moved very slowly in catching up, and Caen remained in German hands, though mostly closed to traffic, at the end of the day. Fortunately, the seventy percent casualty figures some had forecast for paratroopers and gliders on D-Day did not come to pass. The great problem, always present in air drops, was dispersal of men and supplies off course. Thompson sees a silver lighting in this chaos. The Germans could not figure out where the main Allied landings would take place, nor the size of the invasion fleet, and dispersed their forces needlessly.
On the ground the Allied advance showed mixed results, though none fatal to the effort. The beach furthest to the west, Utah, was in many ways the crucial sector of Overlord. Should the Germans hang on to the Cherbourg Peninsula they could delay the further transport of men and material from England for months. (This actually happened later that year in Belgium, when Montgomery took the port of Antwerp but not the offshore islands; another Monty fiasc0.) For the Americans, Utah had the advantage of low-cliffs and great distance from the main concentration of German troops in Caen. A concerted drive after dawn produced a five mile expanse around Utah aimed directly at Cherbourg. The Germans on the Peninsula now had to choose between retreat or a last stand. They opted to stay, and on D+13 Cherbourg lay before U.S. hands. On Omaha D-Day brought a bloody standoff between invaders and defenders that lasted until night fall. Why? Thompson blames the goddess Fortuna. More equipment was lost to the waves than on any other beach. The loss of American officers to German guns was higher, with whole squadrons decapitated. The Americans had foreseen the difficulties of climbing the bluffs, but not how long it would take the US Rangers to reach the top under fire. A nearby German division pounded Omaha mercilessly. On D+1 Omaha had expanded by just over one mile inward, but that gain was permanent. Ike took it as a show of his resolve: "Ask the Germans if I compromised on Omaha beach!".
The most controversial action, as in inaction, of the day of battle came in the eastern sector assigned to Montgomery. Gold, Juno and Sword lay under his command. Since all are agreed that Monty got stuck outside of Caen, the question is to whom or what should blame be assigned. Thompson drags out the usual suspects while exonerating the main culprit. British and Canadian infantry dug their heels on the beaches too early. The tanks and other armored vehicles kept overlapping their assigned areas, causing a huge traffic jam and total disorientation among the men. A nearby German Panzer division raced towards Caen, threatening the British landings in a way the Americans never had to face. Montgomery had to resolve these grave issues first, and then advance towards Caen. Yet, all of these difficulties had been foreseen by Allied planners back in England, including the safe but rigid rules regarding traffic. Monty himself gave the order to hunker down on the beaches, not his subordinates. Thompson thinks than wittingly or not Montgomery, by staying on the beaches, forced the Germans to tangle with him, not the Americans, and in so doing saved the whole Overlord enterprise, particularly the paratroopers who were first in line to meet the German onslaught. General Bradley, in his memoir, A SOLDIER'S STORY, had a more brutal explanation. Monty was running true to form, overly cautious when he should have ordered his men to march forward. Caveat lector!
Overlord changed the course of the war militarily, politically, and, alas, in the popular acceptance of routinized death by machines. At the cost of 10,000 casualties, roughly half fatalities, horrendous but far lower than Eisenhower or his advisors had expected, the Allies had won a foothold in Europe. Hitler now faced mortal danger on three fronts, France, Russia, and Italy. Hitler's generals knew of their predicament, and six weeks after D-Day tried to kill him. Rommel, who participated in the plot, was forced to drink poison or face a firing squad. Runstedt, who knew of the conspiracy, received a pass from Hitler, and in December led the Ardennes Offensive. Ironically, and also inevitably, D-Day increased friction among the Allies rather than uniting them. Ike's triumph permitted him to overrule Montgomery and insist on a slow, broad-front advance into Germany. Churchill was forced to swallow the more bitter pill. The British empire would from then on have to play second fiddle to the Americans. Stalin, watching the scene from afar, with the pressure on the Soviet army eased by the Allied drive on the Western front, proceeded to move into Poland and the Balkans by the end of the year. Thompson avers the worse thing to come out of Overlord was not the fraying of the Grand Alliance against Hitler, but the end of any kind of chivalry and heroism in warfare. After D-Day new weapons of war, some inaugurated on the beaches of Normandy, made killing easier and the individual soldier largely superfluous. The Allies won at the cost of a further degeneration of humanity; a sad, necessary, glorious, and ominous legacy to Overlord.
Storming Hitler's in 1944, Fortress Europa seemed an awesome challenge to the Allies. Hitler still had a considerable number of troops stationed from the Arctic Circle to the Black Sea, and the Isle of Rhodes to the Bay of Biscay. Eisenhower had to prepare for all eventualities and win the battle on the first day. Part of the gift of this book is showing the great role that labor in Britain played in forging the vast armada required to capture the Normandy beachhead by dusk on D-Day. All day and night, factories and foundries burned with the heat of forging tanks, planes, artificial harbors, the famous Mulberries, rifles, bullets, and more peaceful but essential weapons of war, including medical supplies, food, and uniforms. If British working women and men, who had pledged to work overtime and launch no strikes during the war, had not won this battle of production, the invasion might have taken an ugly turn. The Brits resented sharing crowded spaces on the roads, in restaurants and pubs, with the Yanks, but Eisenhower saw to it that no serious friction should erupt between American troops and English civilians. It was one thing for an American to call a fellow officer "a son of a bitch", and quite another to call him "a British S.O.B." Those Yanks who did got sacked.
What strange new weapons of war came out of Britain's assembly lines! Tanks, dubbed DDs, that could float on water, two Mulberries to receive troops and supplies on the beach that first day, vehicles that exploded mines in front them, others that laid steel tracks for incoming tanks, artillery pieces to knock out enemy pill boxes on the bluffs above Normandy, and anti-tank weapons to wipe out the feared Panzer counterattack. The Germans would be as stunned at these weapons as the Aztecs facing Spanish muskets and cannons. Long before the day of battle, Fortress Europe had to be immobilized and smashed from the Ruhr to the Mediterranean. The U.S. Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force relentlessly bombed German arms factories, the occupied port cities of France and Belgium, the new V-1 rocket launching sites at Peenemunde, and German radar stations. Luftwaffe Fighter Command had been almost entirely driven from the skies by Allied bombing of German airfields before D-Day. Naval bombardments kept U-Boats pent up in port and away from the beaches. The most important target, of course, was railroads. By crippling the railroad network throughout France, the Low Countries, and Germany, the Allies ensured that even if the Germans correctly guessed the site and day of the landings, they could not move tanks and troops tither in time to crush the Allied advance. The coup de grace to physical attacks on German targets was the silent war of misinformation. Allied radio stations sent phony messages to non-existent armies in England and the French underground, while cryptographers passed on bogus codes sure to be picked up by the Germans. In the summer of 1944, the German front in France was incapacitated, confused, and without viable and reliable communications.
Could the invasion have failed? Thompson does not go in for counterfactuals, but it's clear from his account that only a "divine wind" storm, like the Kamikaze that saved Japan from the Mongol navy, could have deterred Overlord. Nothing was left to chance before June 6. Allied meteorologists read hourly weather reports from Norway to Spain. Soil samples brought back from Normandy by commandos were tested to make sure the beach could hold tank treads. The men awaiting orders in England were tested by battle exercises on beaches using live ammo. Mini-submarines penetrated the French coast to examine the state of underwater defenses. The landing craft, boats and barges, received trial runs in the English Channel. Air, sea, and earth were turned into Eisenhower's partners in victory. The Germans knew of this activity, of course, through their spies in Britain and over land flights, and still completely misread the signals of what was happening. They were convinced, for instance, that the invasion fleet, no matter where it landed, could only sail at high tide; a disastrous assumption, as it turned out. Out of such careful planning and faulty reasoning on the enemy side rested the fate of Overlord.
All of this tight preparation would have gone to naught without a Supreme Commander to direct Overlord. Eisenhower, by practice rather than predisposition, had learned the dictum that Harry Truman later said all leaders must bear: the capacity and willingness to say "no". He turned aside proposals by his own Air Corps chiefs, Carl Spaatz and "Hap" Arnold, that air power alone could lead to victory in France. Ike vetoed Churchill's suggestion that D-Day be postponed until an Allied triumph was certain; nothing is certain in war. Everything is a gamble. He also said "no" to Churchill on calling off Operation Anvil, the Allied landings on the French Riviera set to follow Overlord. General Mark Clark in Italy wanted more landing crafts to finish the conquest of the Italian Peninsula. Ike nixed that idea, too. Finally, he overrode the counsels of his own staff, British and American, and decided to launch D-Day on June 6, when meteorologists advised him the window of opportunity for a cross-Channel invasion would be closed. Thompson is much less reverential towards General Omar Bradley, whom he accuses of "sour grapes" for Montgomery getting the overall command of ground troops.
Under constant bombardment by the Allies, with their air force and navy largely useless, and taking blow after blow on the Eastern Front, where Stalin had prepared Operation Bagatrion, the destruction of Army Group Center in coordination with the Allied landings, the Germans made things worse by their divided command in France and opposing views on how to crush the invasion. Theoretically, the German army in France fielded sixty divisions in June of 1944. Thompson shows conclusively that fully-equipped and ready to mobilize for combat divisions amounted to fifteen, at most. One proof of this is that Hitler, contrary to his own racial theories, permitted the recruitment of foreign legions into the Wehrmacht, where they made up at least ten percent of all infantry. Such a debilitated army could not defend a front line that extended from Pas de Calais to the Pyrenees. The pitiful situation regarding ground troops was aggravated by the lack of enough bunkers, pill boxes, mines, and artillery to cover all potential landing spots. Hitler's Atlantic Wall rested on extremely weak foundations. Confronted with an invasion force ready to land in France, the Commander of the Western Front, von Runstedt, and the commander of the coastal beach areas, Rommel, to whom Hitler granted wide autonomy, were completely at odds on strategy. Runstedt belied the landing would come at Pas de Calais and that since the beaches were sure to fall to the enemy on the first day, it was best to lure him inward into France and destroy the Allied armies by the use of Panzers. Rommel correctly guessed the landing would occur at Normandy, a view shared by Hitler, and that the Allies must not be allowed to get off the beach. If they did, the advance into France would be unstoppable. Hitler, as usual in making tough military decisions, chose a middle course that proved to be ruinous. The Panzers would be held back until the exact place and size of the landing force was determined, and then either Runstedt or Rommel could utilize them, but only at the Führer's discretion. The popular belief that Hitler was under a sleeping pill when the Normandy landings took place is correct, but even if he had been awake, and Rommel in France rather than at home in Germany with his wife on June 6, Hitler's division of powers between his two commanders would still have wreaked havoc with the Wehrmacht's response. Plus, the overwhelming firepower of the Allies, combined with total command of sea and air, leaves little doubt that, regardless of whether Rommel or Runstedt had prevailed in their debate, a successful German counteroffensive was not in the cards.
The story of the landings at Normandy on June 6 has been ably told by, among others, Cornelius Ryan in THE LONGEST DAY and Paul Carrel from the German side in INVASION! THEY'RE COMING, and need not be regurgitated, yet this is still gripping history. Thompson waxes eloquently on what war felt like for the first wave of invaders on five beaches: Utah and Omaha (American sector) and Juno, Gold, and Sword (British and Canadian sector): Twenty-four hours locked inside a landing craft and sea sick the whole time, followed by horror and chaos upon hitting the shore. Behind the men were giant waves that at times swallowed one's friends, and on the beach, the fire of German guns and mines left burning steel to left and right, and the men, without their equipment right behind them, would be hunched over targets. The machines dictated whether you lived or died. Just the right triangle of backing fire from naval guns and aircraft overhead, Allied infantry blasting away at over the over-the-hill German embankments, and one's own puny weapons aimed at everything not instantly recognized, was the only recipe for getting off the beach. That is, provided sappers cleared the mines ahead, and German gunners were blinded by the smoke thrown up by the air forces and the battle itself. All five landings proved successful, but each encountered special problems, to which we now turn.
The first troops to land in Normandy before dawn on June 6 came from the air. Eisenhower tasked British airborne commandos and the men of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions with the capture of transportation routes. Thompson regards this mission as so vital he devotes two chapters to it. The Americans at Utah and Omaha had to take the bridges leading away from the beach and towards the Cherbourg Peninsula, a must-have for its natural harbor, since the Mulberries could only serve for the first few weeks of Overlord. One town, however, had to be captured immediately, and long before the Germans would have time to react. Mixed elements of the 101st and 82nd dropped down at night on St Mere Eglise, where roads leading to Utah and Omaha crossed paths. Despite heavy casualties, the Americans succeeded in denying the Germans what might have turned into a highway of death. British paratroopers received the assignment to seize the roads leading in and out of Caen, which Montgomery pledged to capture on the first day. The German counteroffensive against the entire beach head was expected to originate here. British commandos dropped swift from the air, but Montgomery's army, in a foreshadowing of Operation Market Garden in Holland later that year, moved very slowly in catching up, and Caen remained in German hands, though mostly closed to traffic, at the end of the day. Fortunately, the seventy percent casualty figures some had forecast for paratroopers and gliders on D-Day did not come to pass. The great problem, always present in air drops, was dispersal of men and supplies off course. Thompson sees a silver lighting in this chaos. The Germans could not figure out where the main Allied landings would take place, nor the size of the invasion fleet, and dispersed their forces needlessly.
On the ground the Allied advance showed mixed results, though none fatal to the effort. The beach furthest to the west, Utah, was in many ways the crucial sector of Overlord. Should the Germans hang on to the Cherbourg Peninsula they could delay the further transport of men and material from England for months. (This actually happened later that year in Belgium, when Montgomery took the port of Antwerp but not the offshore islands; another Monty fiasc0.) For the Americans, Utah had the advantage of low-cliffs and great distance from the main concentration of German troops in Caen. A concerted drive after dawn produced a five mile expanse around Utah aimed directly at Cherbourg. The Germans on the Peninsula now had to choose between retreat or a last stand. They opted to stay, and on D+13 Cherbourg lay before U.S. hands. On Omaha D-Day brought a bloody standoff between invaders and defenders that lasted until night fall. Why? Thompson blames the goddess Fortuna. More equipment was lost to the waves than on any other beach. The loss of American officers to German guns was higher, with whole squadrons decapitated. The Americans had foreseen the difficulties of climbing the bluffs, but not how long it would take the US Rangers to reach the top under fire. A nearby German division pounded Omaha mercilessly. On D+1 Omaha had expanded by just over one mile inward, but that gain was permanent. Ike took it as a show of his resolve: "Ask the Germans if I compromised on Omaha beach!".
The most controversial action, as in inaction, of the day of battle came in the eastern sector assigned to Montgomery. Gold, Juno and Sword lay under his command. Since all are agreed that Monty got stuck outside of Caen, the question is to whom or what should blame be assigned. Thompson drags out the usual suspects while exonerating the main culprit. British and Canadian infantry dug their heels on the beaches too early. The tanks and other armored vehicles kept overlapping their assigned areas, causing a huge traffic jam and total disorientation among the men. A nearby German Panzer division raced towards Caen, threatening the British landings in a way the Americans never had to face. Montgomery had to resolve these grave issues first, and then advance towards Caen. Yet, all of these difficulties had been foreseen by Allied planners back in England, including the safe but rigid rules regarding traffic. Monty himself gave the order to hunker down on the beaches, not his subordinates. Thompson thinks than wittingly or not Montgomery, by staying on the beaches, forced the Germans to tangle with him, not the Americans, and in so doing saved the whole Overlord enterprise, particularly the paratroopers who were first in line to meet the German onslaught. General Bradley, in his memoir, A SOLDIER'S STORY, had a more brutal explanation. Monty was running true to form, overly cautious when he should have ordered his men to march forward. Caveat lector!
Overlord changed the course of the war militarily, politically, and, alas, in the popular acceptance of routinized death by machines. At the cost of 10,000 casualties, roughly half fatalities, horrendous but far lower than Eisenhower or his advisors had expected, the Allies had won a foothold in Europe. Hitler now faced mortal danger on three fronts, France, Russia, and Italy. Hitler's generals knew of their predicament, and six weeks after D-Day tried to kill him. Rommel, who participated in the plot, was forced to drink poison or face a firing squad. Runstedt, who knew of the conspiracy, received a pass from Hitler, and in December led the Ardennes Offensive. Ironically, and also inevitably, D-Day increased friction among the Allies rather than uniting them. Ike's triumph permitted him to overrule Montgomery and insist on a slow, broad-front advance into Germany. Churchill was forced to swallow the more bitter pill. The British empire would from then on have to play second fiddle to the Americans. Stalin, watching the scene from afar, with the pressure on the Soviet army eased by the Allied drive on the Western front, proceeded to move into Poland and the Balkans by the end of the year. Thompson avers the worse thing to come out of Overlord was not the fraying of the Grand Alliance against Hitler, but the end of any kind of chivalry and heroism in warfare. After D-Day new weapons of war, some inaugurated on the beaches of Normandy, made killing easier and the individual soldier largely superfluous. The Allies won at the cost of a further degeneration of humanity; a sad, necessary, glorious, and ominous legacy to Overlord.
June 20, 2019
The last time I read this book was probably shortly after I bought it, brand new, for a dollar, back in 1972. Being as the 75th anniversary of D-day was upon us, I thought I would read it again, as my small part of the celebration, and in honor of those heroes of days gone by. Now I have read a lot of D-day books between 1972 and now and I'll tell you, this little book gives a good deal of background information usually not mentioned, or only in passing, in heavier tomes. No, it isn't all action, but true to the series, there are a lot of photos and maps.
As every year that goes by there are fewer and fewer D-day veterans left amongst us. One of them, I believe he is 90 now, was not much more than a boy when he jumped as a paratrooper into the darkness over Normandy back in 1944. During this year's celebration he made another jump. Of course he was tethered to another much younger trooper, and it was daylight, but he still did it! I don't know if I would jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I am mentioning him for a reason.
In the book it explains what a close call it actually was during those early hours of the invasion. They had one chance. The die was cast. It was do or die, and many did. One of the things that prevented the German reserves and available armor from counterattacking the crowded beaches were those young men from the three airborne divisions. As so often the case in war, things conspired to wreck havoc to well laid and rehearsed plans. Instead of units landing close together and forming up into well supplied battle groups, the American and British paratroopers ended up scattered all over the country side. Lost and out of contact with their comrades, they never the less tried to carry out their missions. In ones and twos they carried the war to the enemy. Ironically, it was this haphazard free-for-all that confused and tied up many a German unit. There was no identified enemy units, they were just all over the place! This 90 year old man was one of those brave young men just doing his duty in the early hours of D-day.
Before closing there is something else I must mention about this book. The author served in WWII, and the military consultant was none other than Sir Basil Liddell Hart. Those of us who grew up reading books written by men 'who were there' will recognize the name. If you can find a copy, check it out.
As every year that goes by there are fewer and fewer D-day veterans left amongst us. One of them, I believe he is 90 now, was not much more than a boy when he jumped as a paratrooper into the darkness over Normandy back in 1944. During this year's celebration he made another jump. Of course he was tethered to another much younger trooper, and it was daylight, but he still did it! I don't know if I would jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I am mentioning him for a reason.
In the book it explains what a close call it actually was during those early hours of the invasion. They had one chance. The die was cast. It was do or die, and many did. One of the things that prevented the German reserves and available armor from counterattacking the crowded beaches were those young men from the three airborne divisions. As so often the case in war, things conspired to wreck havoc to well laid and rehearsed plans. Instead of units landing close together and forming up into well supplied battle groups, the American and British paratroopers ended up scattered all over the country side. Lost and out of contact with their comrades, they never the less tried to carry out their missions. In ones and twos they carried the war to the enemy. Ironically, it was this haphazard free-for-all that confused and tied up many a German unit. There was no identified enemy units, they were just all over the place! This 90 year old man was one of those brave young men just doing his duty in the early hours of D-day.
Before closing there is something else I must mention about this book. The author served in WWII, and the military consultant was none other than Sir Basil Liddell Hart. Those of us who grew up reading books written by men 'who were there' will recognize the name. If you can find a copy, check it out.
January 1, 2018
Despite the potential downfalls inherent to being a first in a series, D-Day by Thompson presents itself as a rather developed introduction to the series and a concise overview of perhaps the world's busiest day ever. One may prepare to be a bit overwhelmed by the data involved (regiment information and the like, mainly), considering the sheer volume of manpower involved in this event, but even in the paragraphs that start to amass loads of numbers, Thompson contextualizes them fairly well and hurries the reader along quickly to more human elements (not to say the numbers of soldiers and their groupings were not "human").
One enjoyable aspect for me was Thompson's emphasis early on concerning the attitudes of the Allies involved, especially the air forces. I can understand their perspective: if they, as heavy bombers, especially, were doing such damage to the Axis powers especially in their infrastructure, why bother with such a massive infantry assault? It's easy for us today to generalize the "highlights" of WW2 and other major historical events, and just assume everyone was like-minded, but Thompson does a good job of bringing to life early on the diverse mindsets going into the battle from both sides (or, all sides, considering the less-than-chummy attitudes of Americans not named Eisenhower to Montgomery and other British generals). The section on Rommel was especially intriguing, as Thompson paints Rommel as a noble, intelligent military mind, and as later entries in the series do, we are lead to feel miraculous intervention alone brought the ending of WW2 how it occurred (despite the occasional comments from Thompson to the effect of a fatalistic approach to an Allied victory).
Thompson brings some aspects of the actual battle to life in a very engaging, first-person, in the action, sort of way. The chapter on the eastern British paratroopers assaults, especially, was very riveting. It was one chapter I wish had more detail but in a positive way, which is an ideal compliment for this series: its best entries make you want to seek out more expansive versions of the subject matter, and while D-Day is as massive a day as humanity has ever seen, this book encourages you to learn even more about it.
One enjoyable aspect for me was Thompson's emphasis early on concerning the attitudes of the Allies involved, especially the air forces. I can understand their perspective: if they, as heavy bombers, especially, were doing such damage to the Axis powers especially in their infrastructure, why bother with such a massive infantry assault? It's easy for us today to generalize the "highlights" of WW2 and other major historical events, and just assume everyone was like-minded, but Thompson does a good job of bringing to life early on the diverse mindsets going into the battle from both sides (or, all sides, considering the less-than-chummy attitudes of Americans not named Eisenhower to Montgomery and other British generals). The section on Rommel was especially intriguing, as Thompson paints Rommel as a noble, intelligent military mind, and as later entries in the series do, we are lead to feel miraculous intervention alone brought the ending of WW2 how it occurred (despite the occasional comments from Thompson to the effect of a fatalistic approach to an Allied victory).
Thompson brings some aspects of the actual battle to life in a very engaging, first-person, in the action, sort of way. The chapter on the eastern British paratroopers assaults, especially, was very riveting. It was one chapter I wish had more detail but in a positive way, which is an ideal compliment for this series: its best entries make you want to seek out more expansive versions of the subject matter, and while D-Day is as massive a day as humanity has ever seen, this book encourages you to learn even more about it.
August 7, 2024
Another charming little book in the Ballantine's Illustrated History of WWII, this book tells as much of the D-day story as possible in a 160 page format. That is to say this book is a very good "amuse bouche" about the topic, a morsel that should give one a stronger appetite for more fully fleshed out tellings of the tale. RW Thompson was a very real correspondent during the Second World War, and tells the story with a little of that urgency, even 30 years later. Thompson focuses on the day itself, without getting too involved in the massive planning/logistical buildup, or the later implications of the assault. The action moves from East to west, and back, several times, a logical way to view such an immense battlefield. Everywhere it is Facts, Pictures and maps/diagrams telling the reader the epic story, with the written part more support than mainstay. This form of storytelling makes this an optimal book for the junior reader, as originally intended back in the sixties when this series began. The Military Enthusiast/Gamer/Modeler will love the pictures and maps, but yearn for deeper content with more anecdotes to improve scenarios/dioramas
October 12, 2017
I think that this book was very good, I liked how all the pictures were real and were pretty good places to be taken them, I liked all the facts. This book was very good and would definitely recommend.
October 5, 2014
I read D-Day spearhead of invasion by Reginald William Thompson. This book is about D-Day and how the U.S. took over the beach and started to move inland to stop the Germans. It tells the story of what happened on D-Day and about the invasion. D-Day is a good book helping explain and entertain people about the war, trying to stop the Holocaust.
The purpose Reginald William writing this book is to inform and entertain readers about the invasion. He explained the hard work it took and deadly battle of invading and taking over the beach. I think his goal was to give people more knowledge as to what happened on D-Day, and how difficult it was. He wanted people to understand and feel and know how terrible the Holocaust was, and how hard it was to stop Hitler and the Holocaust.
The theme of this book is that is to inform people and remind them and never let them forget what terrible things, and how many lives were lost on D-day. The pictures in this book showed me how many people were willing to risk their lives and possible die trying to save others from torture, trying to save them from the Holocaust. The theme is to never let anyone today forget about what happened. We should also never forget about the courage and bravery of the victims of the Holocaust and the lives that were lost, and the lives that were risked. That's my opinion on what I think the theme of this book is.
This book was wrote narration style. It's narration style because it told the story of the war, and them taking over the beach, then moving inland to defeat the Germans. The book explained the process of the war. Narration style tells a story about something, and that's what D-Day Spearhead of Invasion did.
This book was okay, World War 2, the Holocaust, etc, doesn't interest me. The book was good, in my opinion, but it's not my type of book. I would recomend this book to anyone with the interest of the Holocaust, World War 2, or wars in general. Something I liked about this book, is the pictures and the captions explaining the pictures, it helped understand what happened. That's my opinion of the book D-Day Spearhead of Invasion.
The purpose Reginald William writing this book is to inform and entertain readers about the invasion. He explained the hard work it took and deadly battle of invading and taking over the beach. I think his goal was to give people more knowledge as to what happened on D-Day, and how difficult it was. He wanted people to understand and feel and know how terrible the Holocaust was, and how hard it was to stop Hitler and the Holocaust.
The theme of this book is that is to inform people and remind them and never let them forget what terrible things, and how many lives were lost on D-day. The pictures in this book showed me how many people were willing to risk their lives and possible die trying to save others from torture, trying to save them from the Holocaust. The theme is to never let anyone today forget about what happened. We should also never forget about the courage and bravery of the victims of the Holocaust and the lives that were lost, and the lives that were risked. That's my opinion on what I think the theme of this book is.
This book was wrote narration style. It's narration style because it told the story of the war, and them taking over the beach, then moving inland to defeat the Germans. The book explained the process of the war. Narration style tells a story about something, and that's what D-Day Spearhead of Invasion did.
This book was okay, World War 2, the Holocaust, etc, doesn't interest me. The book was good, in my opinion, but it's not my type of book. I would recomend this book to anyone with the interest of the Holocaust, World War 2, or wars in general. Something I liked about this book, is the pictures and the captions explaining the pictures, it helped understand what happened. That's my opinion of the book D-Day Spearhead of Invasion.
October 3, 2013
I read the book, "D-Day: Spearhead of Invasion" by R.W.Thompson. I believe the authors purpose of writing this book is to tell people about D-Day. How it affected our country during World War 2. D-Day was known as "Dooms Day", it was a day that many soldiers who fought that day died. Not many soldiers survived this tragic day of death and destruction.
The theme of this book is, D-Day was one of the worst events that happened during World War 2, and that day will never be forgotten.
This story was written in first person. The first person narrator was mainly the story teller of this Book.
I really liked this book because I learned about D-Day. I'm a big fan of reading books about World War 2 and other war related stories. I would recommend this book to people who like to read about World War 2 and events that happened during that time.
The theme of this book is, D-Day was one of the worst events that happened during World War 2, and that day will never be forgotten.
This story was written in first person. The first person narrator was mainly the story teller of this Book.
I really liked this book because I learned about D-Day. I'm a big fan of reading books about World War 2 and other war related stories. I would recommend this book to people who like to read about World War 2 and events that happened during that time.
February 5, 2026
This book is part of Ballantine's History of World War 2 and they are some of the best books written about the war. I read this book back in the mid 1970s. For those that don't know the covers were color coded. For D-Day the cover was red. Red meant that the book covered a specific battle of the war that might last a few hours or up to several weeks. D-Day gives the reader a lead into the battle and a view from both sides, Allies and German. The book has numerous photos of the battle and several maps that make it easier to follow the narrative. At roughly 160 pages it provides a good detail of the 24 hours of 6 June 1944.
October 9, 2023
Muy buen documento histórico, con gran cantidad de fotografías de la época con su pie de foto cada una, multitud de datos de carros de combate, unidades, estrategias militares, flota marina, personajes célebres que participaron y mucho más que narran paso a paso y de una manera excepcional lo que fue el desembarco de Normandía y todos sus prolegómenos.
December 29, 2015
it was like i was actually reading a newspaper from the wartime lol!!!!!!!
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