D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II

by Stephen E. Ambrose

Book cover for D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II

Stephen E. Ambrose’s D-Day is the definitive history of World War II’s most pivotal battle, a day that changed the course of history.

D-Day is the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their lives, when the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life are laid bare. Distinguished historian Stephen E. Ambrose portrays the faces of courage and heroism, fear and determination—what Eisenhower called “the fury of an aroused democracy”—that shaped the victory of the citizen soldiers whom Hitler had disparaged.Drawing on more than 1,400 interviews with American, British, Canadian, French, and German veterans, Ambrose reveals how the original plans for the invasion had to be abandoned, and how enlisted men and junior officers acted on their own initiative when they realized that nothing was as they were told it would be.

The action begins at midnight, June 5/6, when the first British and American airborne troops jumped into France. It ends at midnight June 6/7. Focusing on those pivotal twenty-four hours, it moves from the level of Supreme Commander to that of a French child, from General Omar Bradley to an American paratrooper, from Field Marshal Montgomery to a German sergeant.

Ambrose’s D-Day is the finest account of one of our history’s most important days.

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  • On May 25 2017 David (USA) read this book
  • On Oct 19 2012 docshea (USN) read this book and commented:

    Made me re-think the whole hurry up and wait.

  • On May 15 2010 Wes Bringham read this book
  • On Mar 09 2010 lennisaw read this book and commented:

    Very informational. Something I keep under my bathroom sink. One of my favorite World War II books.

  • On Mar 07 2010 Fred Kiesche (USA) read this book and commented:

    My favorite book on D Day still remains the classic "The Longest Day", but this one by Ambrose (as well as works by Keegan and others) are good updates/expansions. Hopefully the third volume in Atkinson's "Liberation Trilogy" will be the capstone to this period of the war.