Forgotten Voices of D-Day: A Powerful New History of the Normandy Landings in the Words of Those Who Were There Paperback – International Edition, 13 May 2010

The Forgotten Voices series of books are, for me, some of the most moving, eye opening and valuable insights into war and its impact on individuals that are available.Forgotten Voices of D Day, carries on in the same vein as previous worthy volumes. This is eye witness, participant history of the highest order.From bomber and glider pilots to naval personnel, paratroopers to meteorologists, Royal Marines to the infantry and even the contribution of conscientious objectors - it's all here, the whole range of human emotion and achievement in the face of huge adversity.This book sets its stall out early on - one of its "missions" is to redress the balance. That is, to show the D Day landings were not solely an American venture - as the book points out, recent film and TV portrayals and indeed, some non fiction writing, has been dismissive (and in my opinion hugely disrespectful) about the contribution made to the D Day landings by British armed forces and indeed the level of challenge they faced.This is D Day, unashamedly from a British perspective.This book covers the preparation, the postponement, the raids on vital bridges and batteries, the landings and the push inland.The entries are vivid and you can only admire the strength of character of the people whose accounts are included (and of course the many thousands whose are not).There is so much to admire in this book. It is not just the bravery and utter drive and determination of the people involved it's also their sense of humour and penchant for understatement which goes towards making this a harrowing, exciting,emotional and educational read.If you are not gripped, if you are not moved, when you read this book,then you may as well give up !

This is yet another very good book in the Forgotten Voices series.The book is compiled using interviews with those who took part, were involved in Operation Overlord.It includes accounts of the preparations for D-Day, the deceptions, the tragedy of the exercise off Slapton Sands, the airborne attack prior to the landings, and the landings and the fight to gain a foothold in Normandy and so head towards Germany, and end the war.The book looks at this operation from a British perspective, which makes a change, having read a few books about D-Day.It proves that the Yanks didn't win the war single handed.A recommended read for those interested in the history of WW2,we owe those guys so much, young men mostly putting their lives on the line in the fight against Hitler!

I highly recommend this book for several reasons. For the first thing, we all have got a warped sense of D-day and who fought that day. Like the introduction says in the book, "Hollywood revels in depicting D-day and the ensuing Battle of Normandy... as an overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, American affair". Hollywood, Stephen Ambrose and Tom Hanks/Stephen Spielberg, all being guilty as charged. And to my horror, being a historian, I discovered, that it's mostly what is taught in schools all over as well. So, this book really is an excellent tool to set history straight.Secondly, the book is so well put together and so organized that even if you are not particularly well versed in battles and reading about them, you can make a mental picture of what was going on. No, I know very little of guns and tactics, but still could get a lot out of this book, and understand. The different chapters and sub-chapters, always explain what the plan was and what actually happened. Then you get comments from all layers. From top brass down to the privates and THIS makes the book so wonderful. One event is described by many, the bird's view and the little ant's view. Those people at the imperial war museum, really know what they are doing when they commission a book! The major chapters are: Build Up, Countdown, Airborne Assault, Seaborne Assault, Pushing Inland, Holding On, Day's End. So it covers a lot of angles and interesting aspects.What this book shows more than anything, is that British and Commonwealth citizens were involved on all 5 beaches, in one way or the other. There were as many of them, as there were of Americans! Which both are overlooked facts. And they did not have an easy time on their "own" beaches, at all. Nor in taking their goals, even if Pegasus bridge was taken rather quickly.The men that have written down their experiences for the IWM are all different. Some bring up all the horror. Some bring up things that make you laugh. Some bring up eccentric leaders or just crazy things that happened. Some what saved their lives. But every comment/story, feels valuable and I am very grateful that they took the time to record all this, since nothing can beat this, first hand accounts.

My Uncle is 87 and has recently moved into a care home. He is in the early stages of dementia but in conversations with him he remembers clearly his time in the army and in particular, the D-Day Landings. It's difficult to try and keep his interest sparked on anything for too long as he's been used to being at home and doing things for himself and has taken a wee dip since moving into care but I gave him this book and normally when you give him books to read on things like this he dismisses them as "tosh, didn't happen like that" but the fact that these were recollections from the memories of old soldiers has grabbed his interest and he's thoroughly enjoying reading it. Thank you.

This is a book which should be on the shelves of every school and general public library. When it arrived (very promptly from Amazon) I was initially concerned when I found it was a compilation of statements made by 240 people who were directly involved, were of all ranks and some of whom had made a number of statements. I soon became immmersed in it and thoroughly enjoyed the personal statements, each attributable and searchable from a list of contributors, beatifully edited, and grouped by date, subject or event. The Name, Rank and Unit of every contributor is listed at the start of each contribution. I commend this book to anyone interested. I now understand this approach has been taken in writing about a number of different topics and situations. I will certainly read others after I have (shortly) visited the Normandy Battlefields. I understand that the statements were recorded (also listed and searchable) by the Imperial War Museum. I now feel well-prepared and keen to read other books in the series of "Forgotten Voices". NKIM.