D-Day, June 6, 1944

Title: D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Battle for the Normandy Beaches

Author: Stephen E. Ambrose

Pages: 20 discs

Genre: Non-Fiction, History

Grade: A

Spoiler Alert: We won.

Synopsis: This book mainly covers the events of D-Day, June 6th, 1944, but it also includes details about the Allied build-up to D-Day. The full industrial might from the United States was put to work building tanks, boats, landing crafts, guns, ammunition, airplanes and anything else that you can imagine was needed for a full-scale invasion from water to land in 1944.  From Utah beach, to Omaha beach to Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches, Ambrose describes the landings and fighting at each beach.  The invasion starts in the days before the landing with heavy air bombardment, followed by paratroopers behind the enemy defenses along the beaches.

My Review: The Allied landings on D-Day are some of the most amazing war-time feats in history.  I especially enjoyed reading this book around Veteran's Day, as I felt that I could greater appreciate some of the sacrifices and efforts that were expended by those who are willing to risk everything for our freedom. This book was very, very well done and I often found myself arriving at work or at a meeting at an architect's office with tears in my eyes from the stories included in the book.

D-Day by the numbers:

• 156,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on D-Day, with more than 4,400 deaths, most of which occurred during the first hour or two of the landings. The biggest memories for residents of Normandy and the German soldiers were often about how the English Channel was simply full of thousands and thousands of Allied ships, destroyers, landing craft, etc.  It looked as though you could walk from ship to ship all the way across the English Channel.
• 11,590 airplanes & almost 7,000 ships were involved.
• Within 5 days, over 326,000 troops and over 104,000 tons of supplies landed on the beaches.