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Victory in Europe: D-Day to V-E Day
Illustrated with two hundred color stills of film footage of the Allied Armies' advance through Europe
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
166 people want to read
About the author
Max Hastings
112 books1,728 followersSir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings, FRSL, FRHistS is a British journalist, editor, historian and author. His parents were Macdonald Hastings, a journalist and war correspondent, and Anne Scott-James, sometime editor of Harper's Bazaar.
Hastings was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, which he left after a year.After leaving Oxford University, Max Hastings became a foreign correspondent, and reported from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard.
Among his bestselling books Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both Overlord and The Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.
After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. He has won many awards for his journalism, including Journalist of The Year and What the Papers Say Reporter of the Year for his work in the South Atlantic in 1982, and Editor of the Year in 1988.
He stood down as editor of the Evening Standard in 2001 and was knighted in 2002. His monumental work of military history, Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-1945 was published in 2005.
He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sir Max Hastings honoured with the $100,000 2012 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
Hastings was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, which he left after a year.After leaving Oxford University, Max Hastings became a foreign correspondent, and reported from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard.
Among his bestselling books Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both Overlord and The Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.
After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. He has won many awards for his journalism, including Journalist of The Year and What the Papers Say Reporter of the Year for his work in the South Atlantic in 1982, and Editor of the Year in 1988.
He stood down as editor of the Evening Standard in 2001 and was knighted in 2002. His monumental work of military history, Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-1945 was published in 2005.
He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sir Max Hastings honoured with the $100,000 2012 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 24, 2026
Great to be reunited with this book for the first time since 1986, when I was a mere 6th-grader.
Now, three-and-half decades later, I get to re-read it with not only an adult’s perspective but that of someone who served in the military myself.
As noted by the inside front book jacket flap, “‘Victory in Europe’ is the first and only all-color portrayal of the momentous events that occurred in Europe between D-Day in 1944 and V-E Day in 1945. A landmark in the history of military publishing…”
In my opinion, that puts this book right up there with Peter Simkins’s 1972 “Illustrated Book of World War II” (which in turn was “the first book about the Second World War in which the photographs are entirely in colour”) as one of the more underrated and under-appreciated WWII books ever published.
The color photos are indeed stunning. In particular, the photos of HMS Belfast firing her guns in the opening chapter of the book made me a fan of that warship…which made it that much neater and nostalgic when I finally got to tour the vessel in 2017.
But although the photographs are obviously the main selling point of “Victory in Europe,” the text — written by the highly BBC war correspondent Max Hastings — shouldn’t be overlooked either. He gives some really good insights into how bumbling missteps and miscalculations by Allied leadership ended up delaying final victory by several months.
I especially like this particular passage from Mr. Hastings:
“The ailing Roosevelt, **still deluded** that he could do business with Stalin on terms compatible with Western interests, readily accepted Soviet arrangements for the future of Poland which effectively betrayed the very cause for which the West had gone to war.” [emphasis added]
And thus the Eastern European peoples were condemned to suffer under a different totalitarian jackboot for an additional 45 years. A pox on FDR!
Now, three-and-half decades later, I get to re-read it with not only an adult’s perspective but that of someone who served in the military myself.
As noted by the inside front book jacket flap, “‘Victory in Europe’ is the first and only all-color portrayal of the momentous events that occurred in Europe between D-Day in 1944 and V-E Day in 1945. A landmark in the history of military publishing…”
In my opinion, that puts this book right up there with Peter Simkins’s 1972 “Illustrated Book of World War II” (which in turn was “the first book about the Second World War in which the photographs are entirely in colour”) as one of the more underrated and under-appreciated WWII books ever published.
The color photos are indeed stunning. In particular, the photos of HMS Belfast firing her guns in the opening chapter of the book made me a fan of that warship…which made it that much neater and nostalgic when I finally got to tour the vessel in 2017.
But although the photographs are obviously the main selling point of “Victory in Europe,” the text — written by the highly BBC war correspondent Max Hastings — shouldn’t be overlooked either. He gives some really good insights into how bumbling missteps and miscalculations by Allied leadership ended up delaying final victory by several months.
I especially like this particular passage from Mr. Hastings:
“The ailing Roosevelt, **still deluded** that he could do business with Stalin on terms compatible with Western interests, readily accepted Soviet arrangements for the future of Poland which effectively betrayed the very cause for which the West had gone to war.” [emphasis added]
And thus the Eastern European peoples were condemned to suffer under a different totalitarian jackboot for an additional 45 years. A pox on FDR!
December 3, 2008
What makes this book unique is color photos. Most photos you see of World War II are black and white. Toward the end of the war in Europe, Hollywood director George Stevens was asked by Gen. Eishenhower to put together a flim team to travel with the allied armies during the landings in France and follow their campaign in Europe. Stevens did so, recoring the war on color film. It sat for nearly 40 years until it was "rediscovered" by his son, George Jr. The text is provided by one of Britain's leading war historians.
No real surprises in the photos, but once again, a reminder of how really horrible a world war is.
No real surprises in the photos, but once again, a reminder of how really horrible a world war is.
March 9, 2009
This is an combined text/color photo approach to the last year war in Europe. Photos are interesting, but constraining the selection to color only limits choices, so the included photos are sometimes less relevant than otherwise. Contrariwise, the all-color layout allows use of many rare color photos obviously not included in standard black and white formats.
The other issue is that a photo-text format is not the best for Max Hastings' style of writing. His detailed descriptions and analyses seem to be disrupted by the photos on every page.
Still, overall a recommended work.
The other issue is that a photo-text format is not the best for Max Hastings' style of writing. His detailed descriptions and analyses seem to be disrupted by the photos on every page.
Still, overall a recommended work.
September 2, 2012
A fascinating book of color photos that follow the history of WWII. The photos were taken by George Stephens, a Hollywood film director, hired to develop a special unit of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1943 to organize high-quality motion picture coverage of the campaigns to free Europe. The technicolor process at the time required a very large camera and a lot of equipment. The foreward is by George Stephens, Jr., and the text is by WWII expert historian Max Hastings. I was especially interested in the Normandy photos since we are about to visit Normandy.
May 15, 2024
Victory in Europe is primarily a colour photo catalog of the Second World War from D-Day, June 6, 1944, to VE Day, May 8, 1945. Lieutenant-Colonel and filmmaker, George Stevens was directed by General Eisenhower to establish a team and film all significant activities from the Normandy landings to the end of the war. He was directed to use 35mm black and white to allow cinemas to show them throughout the English-speaking allies. He took the colour photos in this book for his own use; the film was sent to his address in California. The supporting text in the book was written by Max Hastings, perhaps Britain’s leading historian of the war. The photos and text were packaged and released in 1985 by Steven’s son, George Stevens Jr.
An effort was made to cover all the major allies, approximately in proportion to the role played. This included: Canada, the Free French, the Polish Corps, and the Russians once they were close enough for Stevens to reach them. The photos are truly unique and outstanding. Besides the usual war pics, they include soldiers and equipment during battle, wounded and medics at work, recently dead allied, enemy, and civilians. As the heavy battles in Normandy subside, the colour photos show off the wide variety of clothes worn on or near the battlefield. Uniforms representing American, British, French, Russian, army. navy, and air force were all seem, often in clusters of two or three types, all sharing information. As more territory became liberated or newly occupied, civilians became more common. Numerous civilians were wearing partial uniforms or arm bands to show their joy and desire to assist with information, locations and German supplies including weapons. The integrated, ‘official Resistance’ was very helpful. Others were unofficial, or newly formed now that the Germans were pulling out. On occasion these had other objectives; some scores were settled with neighbours who might have collaborated or been too friendly with the Germans.
By the end of winter 1945, Germany was mostly surrounded, and the allies had gathered supplies to allow them to cross the Rhine and enter Germany. The western allies from the west, France, Belgium, and parts of Holland. Russia from the east and some of the Balkans. As these battles were fought, the allies were taking POWs by the 100,000 from pockets throughout Germany and unearthing the bestial concentration camps. By May the western allies had taken Germany as far as the Baltic Sea. Russia had taken Germany as far as Berlin. All the allies were trying to take over their portion of Germany. The Russians took everything of value from eastern Germany and the Russian part of Berlin. The western allies were sorting out war criminals, organizing the debris removal from the roads and trying to get enough food for all the homeless, displaced, and unemployed (employment no longer existed or no longer produced war material).
This book is blessed with outstanding photos. It would be of interest to everybody interested in the Second World War. The text provides an excellent overview of what was going on during this period. Five Stars.
An effort was made to cover all the major allies, approximately in proportion to the role played. This included: Canada, the Free French, the Polish Corps, and the Russians once they were close enough for Stevens to reach them. The photos are truly unique and outstanding. Besides the usual war pics, they include soldiers and equipment during battle, wounded and medics at work, recently dead allied, enemy, and civilians. As the heavy battles in Normandy subside, the colour photos show off the wide variety of clothes worn on or near the battlefield. Uniforms representing American, British, French, Russian, army. navy, and air force were all seem, often in clusters of two or three types, all sharing information. As more territory became liberated or newly occupied, civilians became more common. Numerous civilians were wearing partial uniforms or arm bands to show their joy and desire to assist with information, locations and German supplies including weapons. The integrated, ‘official Resistance’ was very helpful. Others were unofficial, or newly formed now that the Germans were pulling out. On occasion these had other objectives; some scores were settled with neighbours who might have collaborated or been too friendly with the Germans.
By the end of winter 1945, Germany was mostly surrounded, and the allies had gathered supplies to allow them to cross the Rhine and enter Germany. The western allies from the west, France, Belgium, and parts of Holland. Russia from the east and some of the Balkans. As these battles were fought, the allies were taking POWs by the 100,000 from pockets throughout Germany and unearthing the bestial concentration camps. By May the western allies had taken Germany as far as the Baltic Sea. Russia had taken Germany as far as Berlin. All the allies were trying to take over their portion of Germany. The Russians took everything of value from eastern Germany and the Russian part of Berlin. The western allies were sorting out war criminals, organizing the debris removal from the roads and trying to get enough food for all the homeless, displaced, and unemployed (employment no longer existed or no longer produced war material).
This book is blessed with outstanding photos. It would be of interest to everybody interested in the Second World War. The text provides an excellent overview of what was going on during this period. Five Stars.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews