The author wrote this book far back in the 50's, and the book's strongest and weakest points are due to this fact. On one hand, he had direct access to many direct surviving participants in the landings in Normandy (on both sides), and he performed many interviews comparatively close to the actual events, which without a doubt aids in having a fresher memory. On the other, lot of information wasn't publicly available at that time, and thus many claims by the interviewed were not easily (or at all) verifiable.
What comes out is a good overview of the planning and execution of the landings in Normandy, as well as the parachute drops in the rear areas. There is also a brief mention to the many diversionary attacks and other measures. However, with the current available information, it is easy to see that there was much more going on in France (and the World) during those crucial 24 hours than the author was able to present in this book.
If you read any of the later works by the author you will also clearly see that, while following the same episode-style, he probably sensed that he needed to expand the scope of the book and encompass more sources and viewpoints than in this book. Not to be misunderstood, this is not a bad book, but coming from the author and in comparison to his other works it looks slightly weaker.
While a classical in D-Day literature, and including some very interesting insights from the participants in the landings, this book looks a little outdated nowadays and as such loses one star - still a recommended reading for the ones interested in military history.
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