D-Day (Turning Points in History) [Hardcover]

Martin Gilbert (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471423408 | ISBN-13: 978-0471423409 | Publication Date: April 26, 2004 | Edition: 1

"The Allied landings in 1944 had all the prospects for disaster. Churchill thought he would be woken up to be told of massive casualties. Eisenhower prepared a somber broadcast announcing that the enterprise had failed.

The specter of failure was always present. After a failed landing the Nazi regime would have regained the ascendant. New, terrifying bombs and rockets were ready to be launched. Long-distance submarines were in the final stage of development. The last million Jews of Europe were listed for deportation and death.

Failure at Normandy could have given Hitler the chance of continuing to rule western Europe, particularly if the United States, bloodied and defeated in Normandy, had decided-after two and a half years of focusing on Europe-to turn all its energies to the ever-growing demands of the Pacific, leaving Europe to its own devices. Had that happened, I doubt if I would have been alive to write this book, or free to express my opinions without fear of arrest."
--Martin Gilbert

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Churchill biographer Gilbert was knighted in 1995 for his service to Britain as a historian and the author or editor of over 70 books, including his six-volume Churchill biography and 11 volumes of Churchill documents. His one-volume account is part of Wiley's Turningpoints series, "[p]reeminent writers offering fresh, personal perspectives on the defining events of our times." While Gilbert's perspective doesn't feel quite personal, it is suitably accessible and digests a great deal of information sensibly. 28 maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

D-Day was so immense an event that an introduction to it has to embody subject-limiting choices. Historian Dan van der Vat in D-Day [BKL O 1 03] decided to emphasize the postinvasion combat in Normandy, particularly the Canadian role in it. Gilbert structures his short survey around this concept: the Allies' fear of failure and what they did to ensure success of the initial landings. The actual fighting, then, treated in a vast specialty and popular literature, assumes a secondary place. Gilbert dispenses first with the first strategy the British considered, which was to avoid invading France altogether and to attack the Nazi empire instead through Norway and/or the Balkans. Pressed by Roosevelt and Stalin to give up this peripheral strategy, Churchill sanctioned the cross-Channel attack, and Gilbert describes the two years of preparation in its two most crucial respects: the build-up of men and material, and the stratagems to deceive the Germans about the location of the landings. Backed by two dozen maps, Gilbert's sturdy presentation provides the big picture for readers new to D-Day on its sixtieth anniversary. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471423408
• ISBN-13: 978-0471423409
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,970,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sir Martin Gilbert is one of the leading historians of his generation. An Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford - of which he was a fellow for thirty years - he is the official biographer of Churchill and the author of eighty books, among them Churchill - A Life and The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust. For more information please visit http://www.martingilbert

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DDay from the British Perspective, June 23, 2004

By 

"job42" (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: D-Day (Turning Points in History) (Hardcover)

I found this book to be a fast and excellent read. Where Ambrose's DDAY is a minute by minute tactical read of this moment in history, Gilbert focuses on the overall strategy and illuminates key points during the invasion. Gilbert also introduces a novel concept to American readers, Montgomery as an outstanding leader, loved by his men, and not just the prima donna other books and movies have made him out to be. Gilbert also makes a solid effort to accurately account not just for the lives lost by the Allied troops but also by French civilians prior to, during, and after the invasion. This is a well written account of DDay and worth the time to read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good overview of the Normandy Invasion., October 5, 2007

By 

Kevin M Quigg (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: D-Day (Turning Points in History) (Hardcover)

This is a good overview from the British perspective of the Normandy Invasion. Gilbert points out that Churchill prepared the way for a return to France after the defeat in France. He did this by fostering the French Resistance, making guerrilla raids on the coast, and letting the captive population know the real news. When the Americans did enter the war, the British led the way in leadership on the invasion. Gilbert insists that it was not Churchill who was a critic of the French option rather than the soft under belly of Europe.

Gilbert does a good job of portraying the strategy of the invasion, rather than of the actual fighting. The actual invasion is covered in only three of the ten chapters. The rest details the preparation and the end result. As Gilbert reminds us, if the invasion had failed, the population of Europe might have led very different lives. A good read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great look at D-Day..., March 14, 2009

By 

Naomi Litvin (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: D-Day (Turning Points in History) (Hardcover)

I loved this intriguing book about D-Day by Sir Martin Gilbert. My father was an American GI who landed at Utah Beach in Normandy. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II. The maps are terrific! I was able to get permission to use one of Sir Martin Gilbert's maps from this book in my book, We Never Lost Hope, A Holocaust Memoir and Love Story, which helped support the authenticity of my family's story.