Customer Reviews

D-DAY: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

D-Day by Francis Crosby is part of the terrific series of books Images of War which presents rare photographs from wartime archives including many photographs that are published for the first time.

If the reason for creating such a book is to give us images of war that are informative, provocative, and haunting--all shown to convey the essential feel of a given place and time--then D-Day is a marvelous success.

Winston Churchill described the Normandy invasion as "the most difficult and complicated operation to ever take place." Look at the aerial shot on page 19 of this volume, and you will understand exactly what he meant.

The picture of the abandoned German sleeping quarters at Cherbourg is a stunning summary of the panic of war. The furtive glance of a French woman toward the camera as she awaits help from an allied soldier, catches, in its own small way, all the uncertainty of displaced civilians.

This book is an outstanding collection of photos about D-Day, including preparations for the landing and post-landing battles.
Each photo includes a paragraph or more describing the background of what is portrayed in the picture. The explanations are clear and appear to be accurate.
The book itself, however, is pictorial in nature, that is to say the book does not even begin tell the entire story of D-Day (for that one must look elsewhere) but this does not detract from the book as that is not its purpose.
The pictures are presented in chronological order and by topic: 1.) Preparation, 2.) Landings, 3.) Establishing the Beach-head, 4.) Moving Inland, and 5.) Sustaining the Advance.
Minor drawbacks precluding a five-star rating are: 1.) The photos are entirely from British (Imperial War Museum) and U.S. (U.S. Military Archives) sources, so the point of view is limited; 2.) Many, almost too many, of the photos are obviously staged (no surprise, given their source); and 3.) Too much space is devoted to British air ace "Johnnie" Johnson (one picture would have been sufficient in a book of this size).
Also of note is the contrast in uniforms between the Brits and the other combatants: The Brits look a little quaint, even anachronistic, in their pie tin shaped helmets, like they just stepped out of a World War I movie.