Customer Reviews

A Passage to Sword Beach: Minesweeping in the Royal Navy

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I found myself totally absorbed, transported to 1944, as I read this book! 'Sword Beach' provides an engaging, balanced, vivid, touching and sometimes humoristic account of Maher's personal experiences as a young man in the Royal Naval Reserves leading up to the Normandy invasion (D-Day) and thereafter. Maher was assigned to minesweeping, and kept detailed diary entries of the training preparations and life in wartime Britain. (Minesweeping was perhaps one of the most dangerous and critical tasks of the invasion, but one which recieves less "glory" in most of the WW2 literature.) A wonderful read for anyone with a sense of adventure and an interest in history. An important read, especially for younger generations (like mine), to understand and appreciate the great personal sacrifices endured by people like Maher, to ensure our own freedom. These ordinary-turned-brave people were (and are) our grandparents, parents, siblings, friends and neigbors (and they could be us).

My late father was aboard a British Bangor class minesweeper, the HMS Lilanano for the D-Day invasion. I have long wanted to know what it was like for him during this massive operation, and finally, I have a detailed insite about the training, daily life, complicated and dangerous minesweeping operation. This is a rare and remarkable view into this chapter of history. Minesweeping operations been rarely been covered in any detail in the history books, but D-Day would not have been possible without them. It is an important book to add to any library about the war, and especially the D-Day invasion. This is a wonderful view into the world that these brave young men lived at a key turning point in world history. Without the work they did so well that day, history would have been far different today. I am glad to have found this book, and glad that is now in a place of honor with the many other books of D-Day.