A great book: Antony Beevor's "D-Day: The Battle for Normandy"

D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an absolutely great book. It's hard to have such a densely packed, non-fiction book be so enjoyable to read, but Antony Beevor certainly achieved that.

With this well-researched book, Mr. Beevor takes us into the massive operations that went into the invasion of Normandy, showing both the Allied and Axis sides. In addition to all the detail, individual stories add color throughout, and he shows the great depth of knowledge and strategic understanding that comes with being a student of history.

He also confirmed much of what I'd already read about the poor behavior of Montgomery*, the bottomless egomania and selfishness of DeGaulle, and the unspeakable evil of many of the German troops.

Even for someone who has read a great deal about history and this period in history in particular, Antony Beevor's "D-Day" was well worth reading, and I highly recommend it!

*This bit at the end of the book is worth sharing: "The usually tolerant Eisenhower refused to forgive Montgomery for the claims he made after the war. 'First of all he's a psychopath,' Eisenhower exploded in an interview in 1963. 'Don't forget that. He is such an egocentric man--everything he has done is perfect--has never made a mistake in his life.' It was tragic that Montgomery should have thus diverted attention away from his own undoubted qualities and from the sacrifice of his troops, who had held down the vast bulk of the German panzer formations and faced the greatest concentration of 88mm anti-tank guns."

(I'd share some about the behavior of DeGaulle and some other French "leaders," but that could go on for pages. As someone who had a member of the French Resistance in his family, I was happy to see their bravery and sacrifice acknowledged, but some of the others, starting with DeGaulle, behaved abominably.)

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