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Second Front Now!: The Road to D-Day
But how was D-Day planned? And how did Soviet and American demands for a cross-Channel operation result in deadlock with Great Britain at the height of the Second World War?
This enthralling history of the road to D-day should essential reading for fans of Anthony Beevor, Max Hastings and Alex Kershaw.
Second Front Now! examines the most contentious political and military issue of the Second World namely, whether, where and when a second front should be launched in northern Europe, and the conflicts between the three superpowers – Great Britain, the United States and Soviet Russia – that it involved.
Upon it depended the future direction of world history, the Anglo-American alliance, the fate of Great Britain and millions of people in occupied Europe, as well as the lives of several hundred thousand soldiers.
Were Winston Churchill and the British Chiefs of Staff right in decisively rejecting the demands first of Stalin in 1941 and then, in 1942, of America’s General Marshall, that Britain should launch an invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe to relieve the embattled Red Army? And why did the influential press baron and Cabinet Minister Lord Beaverbrook side with the Russians and the American military leaders?
George Bruce turns to the original documents to answer these and other questions. He quotes extensively from the official papers that report verbatim the discussions and arguments between Churchill and his War Cabinet, the Chiefs of Staff and their American counterparts, together with Stalin’s letters on the subject, to provide an insight into the thinking of Britain’s wartime political and military leaders about the decision not to invade until mid-1944.
This engrossing account also describes the detailed planning and the composition of the forces proposed for Operation Overlord, taking the reader right up to the morning of 6 June 1944 and the Allied invasion of Normandy.
Second Front Now!: The Road to D-Day is a highly readable and historically valuable book which reveals a great deal about the motives and characters not only of Britain’s leaders but also of those of the United States and the Soviet Union.
This enthralling history of the road to D-day should essential reading for fans of Anthony Beevor, Max Hastings and Alex Kershaw.
Second Front Now! examines the most contentious political and military issue of the Second World namely, whether, where and when a second front should be launched in northern Europe, and the conflicts between the three superpowers – Great Britain, the United States and Soviet Russia – that it involved.
Upon it depended the future direction of world history, the Anglo-American alliance, the fate of Great Britain and millions of people in occupied Europe, as well as the lives of several hundred thousand soldiers.
Were Winston Churchill and the British Chiefs of Staff right in decisively rejecting the demands first of Stalin in 1941 and then, in 1942, of America’s General Marshall, that Britain should launch an invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe to relieve the embattled Red Army? And why did the influential press baron and Cabinet Minister Lord Beaverbrook side with the Russians and the American military leaders?
George Bruce turns to the original documents to answer these and other questions. He quotes extensively from the official papers that report verbatim the discussions and arguments between Churchill and his War Cabinet, the Chiefs of Staff and their American counterparts, together with Stalin’s letters on the subject, to provide an insight into the thinking of Britain’s wartime political and military leaders about the decision not to invade until mid-1944.
This engrossing account also describes the detailed planning and the composition of the forces proposed for Operation Overlord, taking the reader right up to the morning of 6 June 1944 and the Allied invasion of Normandy.
Second Front Now!: The Road to D-Day is a highly readable and historically valuable book which reveals a great deal about the motives and characters not only of Britain’s leaders but also of those of the United States and the Soviet Union.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 25, 2021
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10 people want to read
About the author
George Bruce
126 books7 followersA former freelance journalist who worked as a sub-editor for Reuters and as European news editor for UPA, George Bruce was an author of popular military histories and company histories.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 28, 2022
Ok read but dated information
I learned a couple of things and it was interesting to see the details of all the allied squabbling about the second front before it was even remotely ready.
Most of the information was old and contained old myths of Germany losing 3000 tanks at kursk, and other Soviet fabrications. It also had a strong British bias. Even so it killed a couple hours..
Don't recommend!!
I learned a couple of things and it was interesting to see the details of all the allied squabbling about the second front before it was even remotely ready.
Most of the information was old and contained old myths of Germany losing 3000 tanks at kursk, and other Soviet fabrications. It also had a strong British bias. Even so it killed a couple hours..
Don't recommend!!
August 15, 2021
Thoroughly researched
Second Front Now was thoroughly researched. The author talked about many things I had never read about before. However, the reason I gave the book a four star rating is, is because Fortitude was was never brought up. If it weren't for Fortitude, D-Day probably would not have been the huge success it was.
Second Front Now was thoroughly researched. The author talked about many things I had never read about before. However, the reason I gave the book a four star rating is, is because Fortitude was was never brought up. If it weren't for Fortitude, D-Day probably would not have been the huge success it was.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews