Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy

What it says on the tin, with the interpretive lens of German military superiority in weapons and fighters. Though most of the Germans in Normandy weren’t their best (who’d been deployed, and often destroyed, in the Soviet Union), they still tended to outfight the Allies when roughly matched in numbers. It was superiority in materiel and supply chains that allowed the Allies to win anyway. Hastings also spends some time on the role of the air forces—critically, denying the Luftwaffe access to those supply chains, and eventually somewhat learning to support ground troops with forward observers calling down targeted fire on enemies, but not nearly enough.

Another excellent book on the battle for Normandy. Hastings manages to weaves together the perspectives of regular soldiers as well as the generals, and gives an excellent sense of the battle. He is scrupulously fair to all sides, and the final chapter which analyses why the battle progressed (or didn't progress) is compelling. Well worth a read.

Another excellent book on the battle for Normandy. Hastings manages to weave together the perspectives of regular soldiers as well as the generals, and gives an excellent sense of the battle. He is scrupulously fair to all sides, and the final chapter which analyses why the battle progressed (or didn't progress) is compelling. Well worth a read.

Hastings wrote, " The German army was the most outstanding fighting force of WW2 and could only be defeated under the most overwhelmingly favourite conditions." Overlord is such a complex topic but Hastings summarizes well the highlights of this historic conflict. I like Hasting's books and have learned things in them I have found nowhere else in my collection.

[2021-11-19]

HCDJ 1st