D-Day: The First 72 Hours (Revealing History) [Paperback]

William F. Buckingham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004 | Series: Revealing History

The Allied invasion of occupied France began with the delivery of three airborne and six infantry divisions onto a 60-mile stretch of the Normandy coast. Accomplishing this involved over 1,200 transport aircraft, 450 gliders, 325 assorted warships and over 4,000 landing vessels. Operation Overlord, as the invasion was code-named, remains the largest amphibious invasion in history. This books tells the story hour-by-hour as it unfurled on the beaches, as experienced by the Allied troops. D-Day: The First 72 Hours covers the initial attacks made by airborne and special forces until the point where all the beachheads were secured.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The originality of this book lies in its exploration of the long–term origins of the battle.” -- Professor Hew Strachan

“startling… the author reveals the real reason why the daring attack failed.” -- The Daily Express

From the Publisher

The Allied invasion of occupied France began with the delivery of three airborne and six infantry divisions onto a 60–mile stretch of the Normandy coast. Accomplishing this involved over 1,200 transport aircraft, 450 gliders, 325 assorted warships and over 4,000 landing vessels. Operation Overlord, as the invasion was code–named, remains the largest amphibious invasion in history. This books tells the story hour–by–hour as it unfurled on the beaches, as experienced by the Allied troops. D–Day: The First 72 Hours covers the initial attacks made by airborne and special forces (Monday 6 June 1944) until the point where all the beachheads were secured (Wednesday 9 June 1944).

William F. Buckingham has recently completed his PhD on the establishment and initial development of a British airborne force. His other books include Arnhem 1944, also published by Tempus.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tempus (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075242842X
• ISBN-13: 978-0752428420
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,662,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye opening, March 27, 2009

By 

Grev (Brighton) - See all my reviews

This review is from: D-Day: The First 72 Hours (Revealing History) (Paperback)

Having read various books on the events of D-day, I have to say that I wasn't expecting to be surprised by this volume, but I'm happy to say that I was. Compared to many books on the subject it can be quite dry at times, mainly because it initially goes into a lot of necessary detail regarding the planning of operation Overlord, but also because it's relatively sparing with regards to first hand accounts of the men on the ground. However - and it's a BIG however - he takes to task the received (and it has to be said, mostly American) version of D-day, which is that the British and Canadians assaulted relatively lightly defended sectors of the Normandy coast and then once safely ashore "sat down" (in Omar Bradley's frankly libellous assessment) and abjectly failed to achieve their set tasks... whereas the Americans stormed hell on earth, saved the British and Canadians and won the war.

In fact the British and Canadians broke through much stronger defences than those faced on Omaha and then defeated the only dangerous counter attack of the day - only failing to take Caen, which they are always criticised for - because it was far to ambitious an objective for any unit to achieve, and was also swarming with German armour. The near disaster on Omaha was caused not by the defences but by the lack of training the U.S. forces received prior to the attack (most of which consisted of practising boarding landing craft) coupled with micro managing by the U.S. high command. For the same reason the U.S. 4th Division at Utah, faced with only light defences, actually performed badly once ashore, moving slowly inland with an astonishing lack of urgency that the author compares unfavourably with the heroics performed by the highly trained and motivated American airborne divisions the 4th was supposedly meant to rescue. All this is eye opening to say the least - especially if you've ever read anything by Stephen Ambrose.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth hidden amongst so much myth, September 8, 2009

By 

Normandy Battlefield Guide (Normandy, FRANCE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: D-Day: The First 72 Hours (Revealing History) (Paperback)

It does seem for some that if a victory was won it had to have been won by the Americans alone. D-Day was prodominantly a British operation, it was the British who had the most number of men under command, faced the most Germans, battled against the strongest and deepest defences and advanced the furthest.

At last here is the truth, not pleasant reading I'm sure for those who only hear what they want to and I'm sure this fantastic work will be dismissed by many who have neither the knowledge, intellect or will to hear the true perspective that, no matter Stephen Ambrose has told you in the past, D-Day was a victory won prodominantly by British endeavor - not American.

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read, July 22, 2011

By 

Carl (U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: D-Day: The First 72 Hours (Revealing History) (Paperback)

Buckingham presents the story of the assault divisions who hit the beaches of Normandy of 6 June and carried on the fight for the next several days before the follow-up formations began to arrive on the line and lend their weight to the battle.

The work starts by providing useful information on the training and preparation that these assault units undertook before venturing to Normandy. Although the first few chapters do feel like they have been padded out, its only till later in the book that the information in these few chapters really start to show their relevance when Buckingham analyses the events of 6 June and beyond, showing that events unfolded as they did largely due to pre-invasion training, organisation and command changes.

For the invasion itself he makes the rarely seen point of explaining why the beaches were codenamed as they were, and that the most developed and in-depth defences in Normandy lay in front of the Second British Army landing zones; one of the reasons, along with a panzer division counterattack, why Caen was not captured on 6 June. Buckingham acknowledges the fact that all units landing did not complete all there assigned objectives and provides analyses of this subject asking some tough questions. He also provides scathing criticism where he feels it is mostly deserved; in the latter case, it is mostly aimed at the organisation and command structure of the American assault formations (it should be noted that he highly praises the actions of the American parachute formations for their actions and fighting near enough non-stop since they landed). While I cannot comment if these criticisms are just deserved, due to a lack of knowledge about American actions in Normandy, his comments do provide interesting reading and food for thought. Moving onto the usually often neglected second and third day of fighting, Buckingham provides the reader with the preparations undertaken by the Germans to attempt to destroy the bridgehead, the efforts by the Allied forces to expand the lodgement, and the intense combat fought by all sides.

Buckingham's work has extensive notes, is well readable and comes across well researched. However he spends quite time explaining how Stephen Ambrose is a unreliable source yet uses his work extensively in places to build up the picture of what happened. The book is supported by an extensive selection of secondary sources but it is also not supported by the same wealth of primary sources, this might be the case of why in some places it felt like I had already that part of the work. All in all however, this work provides a new look at the run-up to the landings, the invasion and the following days. It is an interesting read.