Sand & steel : the D-Day invasion and the liberation of France /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Caddick-Adams, Peter, 1960- author.
Imprint:	New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019]
Description:	xlii, 1025 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	World War (1939-1945) World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- France -- Normandy. World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- France. Operation Overlord. Military campaigns. Operation Overlord. Normandy (France) -- History, Military. France. France -- Normandy. Military history.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11874185

Hidden Bibliographic Details
Varying Form of Title:	Sand and steel
ISBN:	9780190601898 0190601892
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 987-998) and index.
Summary:	"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."-- "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"--

Table of Contents:

Glossary
Operation Overlord Orders of Battle
Introduction
Part 1. 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 2. 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

Sand & steel : the D-Day invasion and the liberation of France /

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