June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day [Hardcover]

Gerald Astor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1994

More than seventy personal accounts and twenty-four pages of photographs of the Normandy Invasion redefine World War II's most astounding operation in honor of its fiftieth anniversary. By the author of A Blood-Dimmed Tide.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Astor ( The Blood-Dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge By the Men Who Fought It ) here recreates the biggest amphibious assault in history, told in large part by the soldiers, sailors and airmen who survived the ordeal 50 years ago. Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France, was staggering in its scope: on June 6, 175,000 troops and their equipment--which included 50,000 vehicles--crossed the English Channel in a 5000-vessel armada to do battle with well-entrenched German troops in Normandy. Despite horrific losses, the Allies succeeded in gaining a precarious foothold by nightfall on D-Day. Astor's mosaic portrait of the fighting--the Canadians at Juno Beach, the British at Sword Beach, the Americans at Omaha Beach, plus supporting air and naval units--vividly demonstrates how the victory was accomplished. His account of the U.S. Ranger assault on the German artillery positions atop Pointe du Hoc is especially memorable. Astor's narrative is noteworthy for its immediacy and for the way he presents his spokesmen in the context of their families, schools, hometowns, nations and finally of their military training. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Author, journalist, and veteran Astor has assembled an exciting collection of personal recollections from the men who, in their late teens and early twenties, made history on June 6, 1944, when they invaded occupied France, Hitler's vaunted "fortress Europe," to wrest the continent from Nazi domination. The voices of 70 men recount the exhilaration, fear, and valor they felt during the greatest land, sea, and air battle of World War II; there are vivid accounts of action as U.S. soldiers and paratroopers battled elite Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS panzer divisions commanded by Erwin Rommel, the notorious and brilliant "Desert Fox." Supported by well-chosen sources, including personal memoirs and diaries, and other familiar primary and secondary material, this well-written volume is sure to appeal to scholars, informed laymen, and general audiences alike.
--Thomas G. Anton, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 370 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312110146
• ISBN-13: 978-0312110147
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,527,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Human Cost of Victory in Europe, August 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day (Hardcover)

If you saw Saving Private Ryan and wondered at the authenticity of Spielberg's account, this is an excellent reference. Astor's method is as much journalism as history, relying heavily on first person narrative to tell the story, providing enough background and tactical description to make the overall account into a cohesive narrative. This is an important, moving work. Astor takes the time to start with the pre-war days with the personal lives of the soldiers from infantry and airborne divisions who would eventually form part of the initial assault wave in Normandy on June 6, 1944. The soldiers who formed the 116th Infantry Regiment, the first assault force on Omaha Beach, were from small mid-Atlantic towns such as Bedford, Virginia, regular guys with small town hopes and dreams - who were fed into slaughter and chaos. Astor's work is powerful and poignant because we are made to realize that these men were, as Ambrose coined the phrase, citizen soldiers. The troops were largely untested (more than 85% of the American participants in the Normandy invasion had never seen combat), but trained in depth and willing in heart to perform their duty - whatever hell lay ahead. The price of the invasion was steep - but the reward was even greater. There is no sentimentality or Hollywood melodrama here - just a clear, unflinching portrait of ordinary Americans exhibiting valor in awesome circumstances, American citizens paying the price for freedom. These men proved that Americans are the true descendants of the Greeks of the age of Marathon.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - An Accurate Portrayal, November 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day (World War II Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

I found Astor's book to be an excellent read. He lets the soldiers tell their own stories and does not exclude any of the blood-and-gut comments. You get an accurate portrayal of what the invasion must have been like for the soldier, e.g., like what you see in "Saving Private Ryan" - the blown-apart body parts, limbless bodies, etc. The book covers, quite well, the soldiers at home (before the war), their experiences in training, the trip over to France, their battles on the beach, and a follow-up. I certainly recommend his book to anyone. Any of Gerald Astor's books are good.

I did find one item unusual: several times I found myself thinking, "I remember a scene like this in 'The Longest Day' movie. I asked myself if Astor saw the movie first, then decided to write the book. Nevertheless, just a small observation. I would certainly read this book again!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Humanizer of WWII, April 21, 2000

By 

James S. MacDuff (Victor, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day (Hardcover)

Gerald Astor's accumulation of stories from a wide variety of sources serves to bring a human aspect to WWII that seems to get overlooked in the strategic and political accounts. The author offers a quite vivid, detailed account of the carnage and fear that was felt on perhaps the most famous day in military history.