NORMANDY '44

A fine account of the familiar but eternally fascinating 1944 Normandy landing and campaign.

Veteran military historian Holland (Big Week: The Biggest Air Battle of World War II, 2018, etc.) knows the drill but doesn’t hesitate to wander from the script. He begins with the massive planning of the invasion, emphasizing that previous Allied seaborne landings were disasters (Dieppe), near disasters (Salerno), or disorganized efforts against weak opponents (North Africa, Sicily). According to Allied intelligence, Normandy would be a far greater operation against a prepared enemy. “Ensuring enough men and materiel were landed quickly enough…before any concentrated enemy counter-attack could be mounted was the absolute number-one priority,” writes the author. In fact, Germany lacked the resources to fortify more than 1,000 miles of Atlantic coast, and Holland delivers an expert account of their efforts. German Gen. Erwin Rommel, the commander in Northern France, wanted to fight at the beaches; his superiors, including Hitler, wanted an organized defense inland. Since historians usually prefer Rommel to Hitler, they look kindly on his plan, but it’s unlikely either would have worked. The Allies achieved complete surprise, and success was never in doubt. Historians concentrate on the carnage at Omaha Beach; Holland points out that the defenders inflicted terrible casualties from their bunkers, but all they could do was shoot. They had no tanks or reinforcements for a counterattack, and Allied naval gunnery pounded them mercilessly; they were doomed. Focusing on the landing, the Allies paid little attention to what might follow, and it took nearly two more months of bloody fighting before the Wehrmacht collapsed. A skillful writer, Holland delivers the occasional jolt, such as a mild rehabilitation of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Even contemporaries criticized his careful preparation and slow advances, but the author points out that this took maximum advantage of superior Allied resources and saved lives.

Far from the first but among the better histories of the Allied invasion of Europe.