Author:Roderick Bailey
6 June 1944: the day Allied forces crossed the Channel and began fighting their way into Nazi-occupied Northwest Europe. Initiated by airborne units and covered by air and naval bombardment, the Normandy landings were the most ambitious combined airborne and amphibious assault ever attempted. Their success marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany.
Drawing on thousands of hours of eyewitness testimony recorded by the Imperial War Museum, Forgotten Voices of D-Day tells the compelling story of this turning point in World War 2. Hearing from paratroopers and commandos, glider pilots and landing craft crewmen, airmen and naval personnel, we learn first-hand what it was like as men waited to go in, as they neared the beaches and drop zones, and as they landed and met the enemy. Accounts range from memories of the daring capture of 'Pegasus' bridge by British glider-bourn troops to recollections of brutal fighting as the assault forces stormed the beaches.
Featuring a mass of previously unpublished material, Forgotten Voices of D-Day is a powerful and important new record of a defining moment in modern history.
The most recent of Ebury's admirable series ... a wonderful selection of first-hand accounts of D-Day by British servicemen
—— Richard Holmes , Evening StandardIncomparable. The voices speak with utter immediacy of fear, determination, bewilderment, indifference, and unmistakable courage
—— SpectatorExcellent ... An exciting read
—— Family History MonthlyThis comprehensive indictment of the Vietnam war was published first in Germany in 2007. One wonders how long it will be before a similar book can be written about the dehumanising effect on a new generation of American soldiers of the Iraq war, also fought against a guerrilla enemy in a foreign land
—— Conor O'Clery , Irish TimesImpressive study.
—— Contemporary ReviewIn light of Greiner's magisterial exposition, Apocalypse Now begins to resemble mundane documentary
—— IndependentA splendid and at the same time deeply distressing investigation; although Iraq isn't mentioned once, the terrifying relevance of the story is obvious... A brilliant account
—— Berliner ZeitungAn important, outstanding book
—— Die Zeit'Nicholas Stargardt evokes the individual voices of children under Nazi rule. In re-creating their wartime experiences, he has produced a challenging new historical interpretation of the Second World War
—— History Today