Customer Reviews

The Invasion of France and Germany: 1944-1945 (History of United States Naval Operations in World War II) (v. 11)

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It is an honor to be the first to review this book by Admiral Morison for Amazon.com. This is the first book I've ever read by this renowned historian, and it is outstanding in both detail and clarity. Admiral Morison (as he is referred to in Stephen Ambrose's history of D-Day) tells this story clearly and with dramatic narration, as much as any history which strives to be complete can be. I intend to read his RISING SUN IN THE PACIFIC next, and I may try to read the entire series on U.S. naval operations in WWII, given time. This book is essential to an understanding of D-Day and, along with Mr. Ambrose's books, gives any reader a great deal of insight into the most dramatic day of the 20th century, and maybe in the modern history of the world.

Volume 11 of Morison's history of the Navy in WW II. He received a Commission and served as a historian on the scene in several campaigns, which explains his familiarity with many of the senior officers near his rank. Morison writes as if he were fleshing out ships' log entries and action reports. There are few passages containing florid description or patriotic reminiscence, which would have no place in an official report. Thus the book is not long. A simple example--the Naval logistics of the stunning innovative concept of installing dozer blades on tanks to crash the Normandy hedgerows is covered in two or three sentences. In all his books, the vastness of the bluejacket human endeavor predominates the discussion--how thousands and thousands of landing craft crew were trained from zero, the struggle to maintain the Atlantic and Pacific amphibious forces together. There are better books for the human drama on one of the most important days in the Twentieth Century, and better books to integrate Army and Navy and British tactics together with continual new discoveries of German documents. One might consider this book a primer before reading Cornelius Ryan or Stephen Ambrose.