Everyone is familiar with the story of D-Day and the triumphal
liberation of France by the Allies: a barbaric enemy was defeated by
Allied ingenuity, courage and overwhelming military force, helped by
dreadful German command errors and the terrible state of Wehrmacht
forces in the West - but is this all true? The Wehrmacht was hugely
experienced, equipped with some of the best weaponry of the war and was
holding its own in Italy and Russia at the time. Berlin knew the
invasion was coming and had had years to prepare for it. So how did the
Germans view the impending invasion and campaign, did they feel ready,
what forces did they have and could they have done better? Previous
histories have focused on the 'clash of the generals'; the battle
between von Runstedt and Eisenhower, Montgomery and Rommel, but on the
German side in particular this was a battle that would be fought by
divisional and regimental commanders; the 'German D-Day colonels' upon
whom the real business of trying to defeat the invasion fell - it was
they and their men, outnumbered and outgunned, who somehow held Normandy
for ten whole weeks against the greatest seaborne invasion force ever
assembled, and occasionally even came close to defeating it. In the end
they lost, and the majority of these unsung leaders ended up killed,
wounded or captured in the fighting. As for their men, they ranged from
élite Waffen-SS stormtroopers through to bewildered teenagers, old men,
'recycled' invalids and even anti-communist Eastern legions. Written
from the 'other side' and told through the words of the veterans, this
book is a revelation.
