The international bestselling historian and host of the Unknown
History podcast presents a ground-breaking account of the first 24 hours
of the D-Day invasion told by a symphony of incredible accounts of
unknown and unheralded members of the Allied--and Axis--forces.
More than seventy-five years have passed since D-Day, the greatest
seaborne invasion in history. The outcome of the Second World War hung
in the balance on that chill June morning. If Allied forces succeeded in
gaining a foothold in northern France, the road to victory would be
open. But if the Allies could be driven back into the sea, the invasion
would be stalled for years, perhaps forever.
An epic battle that involved 156,000 men, 7,000 ships and 20,000 armored
vehicles, the desperate struggle that unfolded on June 6th, 1944 was,
above all, a story of individual heroics--of men who were driven to keep
fighting until the German defenses were smashed and the precarious
beachheads secured. This authentic human story--Allied, German,
French--has never fully been told.
Giles Milton's bold new history narrates the day's events through the
tales of survivors from all sides: 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, Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy lays bare the
absolute terror of those trapped in the front line of Operation
Overlord. It also gives voice to those who have hitherto remained
unheard--the French butcher's daughter, the Panzer Commander's wife, the
chauffeur to the General Staff.
This vast canvas of human bravado reveals "the longest day" as never
before--less as a masterpiece of strategic planning than a day on which
thousands of scared young men found themselves staring death in the
face. It is drawn in its entirety from the raw, unvarnished experiences
of those who were there.
Includes Maps and Black-and-White Photographs
