D-Day

June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II

Stephen E. Ambrose

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2013
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439126301
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

Stephen E. Ambrose’s D-Day is the definitive history of World War II’s most pivotal battle, a day that changed the course of history.

D-Day is the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their lives, when the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life are laid bare. Distinguished historian Stephen E. Ambrose portrays the faces of courage and heroism, fear and determination—what Eisenhower called “the fury of an aroused democracy”—that shaped the victory of the citizen soldiers whom Hitler had disparaged.

Drawing on more than 1,400 interviews with American, British, Canadian, French, and German veterans, Ambrose reveals how the original plans for the invasion had to be abandoned, and how enlisted men and junior officers acted on their own initiative when they realized that nothing was as they were told it would be.

The action begins at midnight, June 5/6, when the first British and American airborne troops jumped into France. It ends at midnight June 6/7. Focusing on those pivotal twenty-four hours, it moves from the level of Supreme Commander to that of a French child, from General Omar Bradley to an American paratrooper, from Field Marshal Montgomery to a German sergeant. Ambrose’s D-Day is the finest account of one of our history’s most important days.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Epigraph
• Maps
• Prologue
• Chapter 1: The Defenders
• Chapter 2: The Attackers
• Chapter 3: The Commanders
• Chapter 4: Where and When?
• Chapter 5: Utilizing Assets
• Chapter 6: Planning and Preparing
• Chapter 7: Training
• Chapter 8: Marshaling and Briefing
• Chapter 9: Loading
• Chapter 10: Decision to Go
• Chapter 11: Cracking the Atlantic Wall
• Chapter 12: “Let’s Get Those Bastards”
• Chapter 13: “The Greatest Show Ever Staged”
• Chapter 14: A Long, Endless Column of Ships
• Chapter 15: “We’ll Start the War from Right Here”
• Chapter 16: “Nous Restons Ici”
• Chapter 17: Visitors to Hell
• Chapter 18: Utter Chaos Reigned
• Chapter 19: Traffic Jam
• Chapter 20: “I Am a Destroyer Man”
• Chapter 21: “Will you Tell me How We Did This?”
• Chapter 22: Up the Bluff at Vierville
• Chapter 23: Catastrophe Contained
• Chapter 24: Struggle for the High Ground
• Chapter 25: “It Was Just Fantastic”
• Chapter 26: The World Holds Its Breath
• Chapter 27: “Fairly Stuffed with Gadgets”
• Chapter 28: “Everything Was Well Ordered”
• Chapter 29: Payback
• Chapter 30: “An Unforgettable Sight”
• Chapter 31: “My God, We’ve Done It”
• Chapter 32: “When Can Their Glory Fade?”
• Photographs
• Glossary
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Appendix A: Veterans who contributed oral histories or written memoirs to the Eisenhower Center
• Index
• Copyright