Description

A compelling and masterly account of the D-Day landings from the No. 1 bestselling historian Max Hastings, author of Vietnam and Operation Pedestal.

‘Max Hastings stands in the first rank of writers on modern war’ – Financial Times

On 6 June 1944 – D-Day – British, Canadian and American troops staged the greatest amphibious landing in history. It was the start of Operation Overlord, the battle to take Normandy from the Third Reich. Over ten gruelling weeks, the Allies fought the entrenched German army, some infantry units suffering an almost 100 per cent casualty rate.

In Overlord, acclaimed historian Max Hastings has drawn on eyewitness accounts of survivors from both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped World War 2 sources and documents, to write a gripping and authoritative account of the devastating fighting that paved the way for the liberation of north-west Europe.

‘A book which combines serious historical and critical comment with brilliant reportage. He brings both the arguments between higher commanders and the fighting on the battlefield itself to life’ – Times Literary Supplement

Publisher Review

Max Hastings’s reportage of the battle is not unworthy to stand with that of the best journalists and writers who witnessed it . . . A tribute to his skills as a historian — John Keegan, New York Times Book Review A masterly book, rich in insight, shrewd and weighty in judgement . . . Max Hastings stands in the first rank of writers on modern war — Financial Times A fine account of the strategy and tactics of the campaign. The author has been shot at himself . . . This has done marvels for quickening his understanding of what such landings are like, and adds an extra cutting edge to his book. He goes over a well-worn path, full of pitfalls, and falls into none of them — The Economist A book which combines serious historical and critical comment with brilliant reportage. He brings both the arguments between higher commanders and the fighting on the battlefield itself to life more vividly than previous books — Times Literary Supplement A brilliant and concise account — Washington Post