Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, 1944 (Pan Grand Strategy Series)

Hasting's 'Overlord' has earned a reputation of being almost as close as one can get to becoming a definitive history of the 1944 landings in Normandy.

Whilst far superior to the work of 'historians' such as Stephen Ambrose, there is still an overwhelming feeling of this book being authored by a journalist and not an historian. Hastings makes many sweeping statements, many of which are totally unfounded, yet does very little to substantiate his claims. He constantly enforces the popular misconception, which have almost become fashionable, to criticise rather than to focus on the positives. Reading 'Overlord' found me actually questioning myself as to whether or not the Allies actually won the Battle of Normandy or not.

There is far too much unbalanced emphasis on the conceived failures, failures which can only be called such with the benefit of no small amount of hindsight. Operation Overlord was the biggest and best operation the western allies launched in WW2 and should be celebrated for what it achieved, not disected to an extent that only with that valuable aid of hindsight can decisions be doubted and triumphs blunted beyond recognition.

Hasting plays up the superiority of the German forces but, in my opinion, fails to give due credit to the forces (prodominantly British) that took on the bulk of the German elite, and beat them into submission within just 71 days in Normandy.

Whilst I dont agree with every sentiment expressed by historians like John Keegan, Carlo D'Este, Denis Whitaker and Terry Copp, these historians make much more effort to present an objective and substantiated account than Hastings achieves in this publication.

I'm afraid to say it but I do have a sense of real disappointment that Hastings may be becoming Britain's very own Stephen Ambrose in so much that he is only interested in sensationalising popular history for a popular audience with more of an eye on book sales than the recording of an accurate, academically robust, history.

Monty's Lying Circus. (4/4 people found this helpful)

Much of what has been written about D-Day is strictly from the Allied side and heaving under a weight of self-glorification. Whilst it is patently true that the Allies achieved victory, Hastings attempts to uncoverd the real price of that success. He is also hampered by the lack of German documents and survivors, but draws heavily on those of Americans and to a vast extent, British.
The whole build up is described, examinations of the various strategic proposals to invade, and the associated code-names. Then come the personalities who made up the Allied Supreme Command. This analysis sets the tone of the book. How they diagreed and in a couple of instances intensely disliked one another. Not the sort of thing that propoganda allowed the public to see at the time. It seems that Leigh- Mallory was completely sidelined. However the sad self-seeking behaviour of Monty both during and more intensely later hangs like a shadow over the whole preceedings. Hastings reports: "Montgomery was now compelled to endure a crisis of confidence in his leadership which would have cracked the nerve of a more sensitive man. He had always been the object of animosity within the huge headquarters staff at SHAEF in England, and unloved by many of Bradley's Americans." It's an important revelation because it shows what level of dishonest leadership he preferred. Even worse is the numbers of British soldiers whose lives it cost. Eisenhower is also portrayed in less than glowing terms, as weknesses in his leadership are also examined.
Combat operations focus on the ground war, though Hastings refers to his own works on Bomber Command to explain air operations, and the Third Reich to prove the relativistic morals of the Nazi forces This is too short an explanation, as he makes the point himself that the ground forces were inadequate against the German army. It is this revelation which shatters the myth of Allied victory, and is a great balance to the triumphalism of the time. It turns out that the Nazi's had the greatest army in the world. The British and American forces were inferior in every way, especially in what was needed in Normandy, tanks and an infantry with fighting spirit. The Sherman tank is described in less than glowing terms, with almost every engagement against German Panther or Tiger tanks leaving only a wreck and many dead. Terrible mortars and one-shot throw away anti-tank weapons proved that the German army was better equipped for fighting amongst the hedgerows. The question is posed as to why the allied armies had no matching equivalents or even copies like the Jerry-can Just how the ground war was won in Normandy seems almost miraculous bearing in mind that the Allied infantry's performance was almost always mediocre against a German army that had been fighting continually for naerly five years. So it seems, that wars are fought from moment to moment learning only what is gathered in the field, rather than remembering previous wars. The tragedy of unleashing the British and US heavy bombers against the front line is discussed on three occassions, each one bringing hundreds of allied soldiers lives to an end and proving that the airmens capabilities were better employed against German cities and industrial targets, such was their inaccuracy.
In spite of all this, the victory is related in terms of a battle of attrition being won by superior allied production, and air supremecy (not just superiority). The US could simply throw more Shermans into the fight, whereas the German tanks were maintenance heavy and couldn't hope to be replaced once lost. In this way the allied bomber effort played a major part that Max Hastings is reluctant to admit. The role of the fighter bombers, however is given its due. At the end Hastings remarks how the forces broke out of the Falaise Gap and into an acceleration that perhaps could have been won earlier in June at Cean. He makes a good theoretical examination of this. Other details are covered, the minimal and unnecessary role of the British "Funnies" and Mulberry Harbours. Good maps help understand the strategies with almost every photo containing the human face of the battle.

Well written, but flawed in analysis and missing content (9/11 people found this helpful)

I admire the Max Hastings. He isn't just an accomplished journalist and editor, but a serious historical writer too. His anecdotes and stories from soldiers who took part in the combat are intriguing and thought provoking. His observations concerning the qualitative fighting power of the various armies involved is undoubtedly true. But from a journalist of Hastings’ calibre, I would expect to have read more of the motivations behind the combatants, and better diagrams to explain the conflicts that made up the Overlord campaign.

In his later book, “Armageddon”, Hastings claims it is the natural successor to this book. Why then, does he leave such a huge gap between his two narratives concerning the progress of the allied armies across central and Eastern France? The Falaise Gap is covered here, and 'Market Garden' is the next book, but what happened in-between? And why does he almost ignore the role of the American invasion from the South of France or the Allied climb through Italy?

If Hastings ever revises “Overlord” – and the emergence of more evidence since its writing would suggest he should – then I would like him to include better analysis of personal and political motivations, and to include some of the less well documented but equally important military events of the time.

An essential read for the enthusiast (6/7 people found this helpful)

I'm no academic but an enthusiast for the history of WW2 and especially the Normandy campaign. I found this book to be a very readable account of what is a very complicated event which we are still unravelling. It was a perfect contrast to the weighty 'After the Battle' tome on D-Day which I had just read (and which for extreme detail is unsurpassable). Hasting's book does a good job in giving the overall picture whilst dipping into the detail with the eyewitness accounts that punctuate the text. He also provides enough conjecture; the relative qualities of the men who particpated, already discussed by other reviewers, the relationship between Monty, Bradley et al, the relationship between the air, sea and land arms and so on. On the negative side you don't get a feel for the territory, particularly the bocage and its effect on manoeuvre, and how an 88mm in the right hands can stop an armoured assault. That having been said, I've yet to come across a book that does. Certainly well worth reading and it takes its place amongst the gallery of essential publications on the subject.

Thrilling read (9/10 people found this helpful)

This is, if not the definitive, certianly the most readable version of the Normandy campaign I have read to date. As narrative history goes, Max Hastings has set the bar very high with this work.

There is some complaint to be made with this not being as strictly academic as other work that has since been produced since this book was released. I think this book is not without it flaws, but ones that are forgiveable. The complaint one reviewer made is legitimate, and perhaps this is more a result of the author trying to keep the momentum of the story moving (this is narrative history after all). The Canadians, for example, fought brilliantly throughout the war. When the author is critical of the Canadians and British failing to make progress against the Germans, this is more probably due to shoddy tactics (little armour & infantry working together) than 'not wanting' to fight. For a good idea of how poor their tactics were, I would recommend reading Panzer Commander by Hans Von Luck. He fought on the other side during Normandy, and it is quite eye-opening how badly the British (and therefore Canadian) attacks were planned and executed. Perhaps another issue could be that the author gives too much credence to Monty's retrospective argument for British and Canadian troops taking the brunt of the German forces and 'allowing' the Americans to break-out of the beach-head. But these are relatively minor matters, and I think the author is right not to get too bogged down in dealing with arguments for and against. Leave that to the academics.

But whatever this book's deficiencies, I dare you to put it down once you start reading. It is an excellent starting point or anyone who wants to understand this campaign.

Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, 1944 (Pan Grand Strategy Series)

Max Hastings

Reader Reviews:

Rather subjective and certainly over-rated! (0/0 people found this helpful)

Monty's Lying Circus. (4/4 people found this helpful)

Well written, but flawed in analysis and missing content (9/11 people found this helpful)

An essential read for the enthusiast (6/7 people found this helpful)

Thrilling read (9/10 people found this helpful)

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