D-DAY: The Soldiers' Story

The first American troops to wade ashore on Omaha Beach were jokingly known as the Suicide Wave. Almost none came back. An epic battle that involved 156,000 men, 7,000 ships and 20,000 armoured vehicles, the desperate struggle unfolded on 6th June 1944. Above all it's a story of individual heroics, of men who were driven to keep fighting until the German defences were smashed and the precarious beachhead secured. If driven back into the sea, the invasion would be stalled for years. Southern England was a vast marshalling yard for military supplies. For almost 75 years since that day many voices involved have remained unheard - ordinary Allied soldiers, German defenders, French civilians. Compellingly authentic, revelatory and beautifully written, Giles Milton's bold history narrates the day's events through the tales of survivors - the teenage Allied conscript, the crack German defender, the French Resistance fighter. From the military architects at Supreme Headquarters to the young schoolboy in the Wehrmacht's bunkers, the book lays bare the absolute terror of those trapped in the front line of Operation Overlord and gives voice to the French butcher's daughter, the Panzer Commander's wife, and the chauffeur to the General Staff. The book reveals 'the longest day' as never before, less a masterpiece of strategic planning than a day on which thousands of scared young men found themselves staring death in the face. Vivid, graphic and moving this is a completely fresh and very human approach to military history. 486pp in illustrated paperback.