Without a doubt, this is the Gold Standard of books about June 6 1944, D-Day - the beginning of the end of the Second World War in Europe. Cornelius Ryan will be the benchmark that others who tell the gripping story of the landings in occupied France aim for. It seems unlikely that anyone will surpass what the Irish journalist has accomplished.
From all sides, the Normandy landings are reconstructed in meticulous detail. This is non fiction history written with the verve and excitement of a non-fiction blockbuster. There were times when I had to remind myself that this was history, truth. Not dry, boring history, but a classic, gripping account.
The build-up to the day is described from three viewpoints: German, Allied and the French resistance. We understand some of the incredible blunders, quirks of fate and seemingly-divine moments of luck that enabled the invasion of France to continue as it did: the shifting fortunes of the weather, Hitler's decision to keep his Panzer divisions back from the coast, Rommel's trip to Germany to visit his wife for her birthday (June 6) and the battle between intelligence officers and code breakers on both sides.
The enormity of the build-up and the preparations presented slowly, revealingly, and events on both sides of the English Channel build gradually to Eisenhower's decision that D-Day will be June 6, 1944, and then to the beginnings of the invasion - known now as the beginning of the end of the Second World War in Europe - the airborne landings deep in the night, and the commencement of their difficult task: to lay a foundation for the seaborne landings that are coming, courtesy of a 5,000-ship armada, just after daylight.
As the night passes by, Ryan highlights critical events - St-Mere-Eglise, the Merville Battery attack - and the German response to them. It's quite interesting to read how German High Command is so certain that the attack will come at pas De Calais, where the English Channel is at it's shortest, that all these reports of movement in Normandy (and of ships manouvering in the Channel off the Norman coastline) are dismissed as being just feints to draw German attention away from the real target of the landing.
Then comes morning, a gray dawn, and the emergence of a fleet comprising a formidable five thousand vessels, and the invasion begun by paratroopers and glider-borne troops in the dead of the night continues now at five beaches - Gold, Sword, Juno, Omaha and Utah - and the cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc, where, intelligence says, the Germans have installed big guns that would harrass American troops landing on both Omaha and Utah.
Ryan does a masterful job at describing the horror of Omaha, the lucky mistake of Utah Beach, the German Luftwaffe offensive on the British beaches, Lord Lovat's commandos landing and heading inland, bound for Pegasus Bridge, as well as Germany's reaction. Rommel is alerted, and returns to France as quickly as he can. Other generals try to have the Panzer reserves released, but Hitler commands that tank reserve and no one at the Fuhrer's headquarters yet believes the situation serious enough to warrant such a release.
The day drags on, dawn becomes mid morning, and the invasion beaches, even Bloody Omaha, are cleared, and the Allied troops begin to make inroads into occupied Europe, infantry surging forward to relieve tired, out-gunned paratroopers. Slowly, it dawns on the disbelieving Germans that these Normandy landings are the real thing. Even then, it may have been too late.
The best thing about Ryan's novel is the urgent way it's written. There are times when you have to stop and remind yourself that this isn't a war/adventure novel, but actually true fiction. All of it happened. All the characters are real. What Ryan describes at St Mere Eglise, at Merville, on Pegasus Bridge and at Omaha Beach happened.
Ultimately, The Longest Day is, and will remain, the most complete and powerful documentation of one of the most important days in recent history, the day that marked the beginning of the end of the Third Reich.
No comments:
Post a Comment