Sand and steel: the D-Day invasions and the liberation of France

Description

"Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg. In addition to covering the build-up to the invasion, including the elaborate and lavish campaigns to deceive Germans as to where and when the invasion would take place, Peter Caddick-Adams gives a full and detailed account of the German preparations, but the heart of the book is Caddick-Adams' narratives of the five beaches where the terrible drama played out--Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword, and the attempt by American, British, and Canadian soldiers to gain a foothold in Europe"--;Cover; Sand & steel; Copyright; Contents; Glossary; Operation overlord orders of battle; Introduction; Part one: Preparation; 1. France and America; 2. Atlantikwall; 3. Heading over there; 4. The commandos; 5. Warm hearts; 6. A question of colour; 7. Committees and code words; 8. Soapsuds and tidal waves; 9. COSSACs, Spartans and chiefs; 10. Rhinos, camels and roundabouts; 11. Ducks and eagles; 12. Bigots and tigers; 13. Thunderclaps and fabius; 14. My headmaster was a spy; 15. Big week, Berlin and Nuremberg; 16. Fortitude, FUSAG and France; 17. The giants; 18. Weathermen;"Peter Caddick-Adams's account of the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 matches the monumental achievement of his book on the Battle of the Bulge, Snow and Steel, which Richard Overy has called the "standard history of this climactic confrontation in the West." Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg. The Allied invasion of Europe involved mind-boggling logistics, including orchestrating the largest flotilla of ships ever assembled. Its strategic and psychological demands stretched the Allies to their limits, testing the strengths of the bonds of Anglo-American leadership. Drawing on first-hand battlefield research, fresh personal testimony, and a commanding grasp of all the archives and literature, Caddick-Adams's book does Operation Overlord full justice. Sand and Steel shows as well how liberating France hinged on two other key elements: the activities of the French Resistance and Operation Dragoon, which involved landing 887 ships along the French Rivera, including seven aircraft carriers and 2,000 plans. It was Dragoon as much as Overlord that inspired resistance fighters throughout France to rise up. The implementation of Dragoon was controversial. Backed by Eisenhower and Stalin the other D-Day invasion was strongly opposed by Churchill, who believed a less costly breakthrough in the Mediterranean was imminent. This volume in Caddick-Adams's epic trilogy of the final year of World War II is the first book to incorporate all the elements of D-Day, and to reveal in full what lay behind eventual Allied victory in Europe."-- Cover Sand & steel Copyright Contents Glossary Operation overlord orders of battle Introduction Part one: Preparation 1. France and America 2. Atlantikwall 3. Heading over there 4. The commandos 5. Warm hearts 6. A question of colour 7. Committees and code words 8. Soapsuds and tidal waves 9. COSSACs, Spartans and chiefs 10. Rhinos, camels and roundabouts 11. Ducks and eagles 12. Bigots and tigers 13. Thunderclaps and fabius 14. My headmaster was a spy 15. Big week, Berlin and Nuremberg 16. Fortitude, FUSAG and France 17. The giants 18. Weathermen 19. The great Armada 20. Shells, rockets and flies 21. Boats and bugles Part two: Invasion 22. Night flyers 23. Across the water and into the trees 24. Utah: ivy division 25. Wet feet 26. Omaha: blue and gray 27. Omaha: Cota takes command 28. Rangers, lead the way! 29. Omaha: big red one 30. Omaha: E-3 -- the Colleville draw 31. Gold: men of the double-T 32. Juno: maple leaf at war 33. Iron division at sword 34. Yeomen of England 35. Green Berets and le Général Postscript: Fortitude and the spies Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography Index