The Longest Day: The D-Day story, June 6th, 1944 - Cornelius Ryan

Read Cornelius Ryan's account of the Normandy landing of the Allied forces on the 6th of June, 1944 - code named Operation Neptune, but more famously known as D-Day. The book is titled "The Longest Day", borrowing a phase by Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, who was in charge of the German forces, and oversaw the fortifications on expected invasion fronts. However, Rommel was not on site at the particular time, despite his untiring work, for he had returned home for the occasion of his wife's birthday. He didn't expect the invasion to happen on that day, given the weather forecast. Returning to the battle field upon hearing news of the invasion, Rommel laments his  decision to be away, for this was "The Longest Day" that he was waiting for all along. His prophecy before the invasion was:

"The War will be won or lost on the beaches, We'll have only one chance to stop the enemy and that 's while he's still in he water struggling to get ashore... Believe me Lang, the first twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive.. for Allies as well as Germany, it will be the Longest Day." And yet, it was the exactly what the Germans failed to do - stop the enemy at the beaches. Despite the heavy losses incurred by the Allies at the beaches specifically, they made enough inroads that day,  to defeat Hitler within an year.This after, they failed in many fronts with their plans in landing. Paratroopers landing miles from their target areas, sea craft landing miles off etc. But the German unpreparedness and the unavailability of the either the three Panzer units allowed the Allies the breathing space despite their heavy losses, to make inroads just sufficient to fight another day. Hitler himself was at fault for not availing these Panzer units. The amount of indecision, which under the conditions were just, from both sides till the last moment, made it that much more difficult to the other party. Here, it can be safely assumed that the inroads made by the Allied forces would've been severely challenged if not stopped in the beach it self if the Panzer units were available. 

"Zimmermann summed it up this way: 'When we warned that if we didn't get the panzers the Normandy landings would succeed and that unforeseeable consequences would follow, we were simply told that we were in no position to judgea"that the main landing was going to come at an entirely different place anyway.'  And Hitler, protected by his inner circle of military sycophants, in the balmy, make-believe world of Berchtesgaden, slept through it all. Hitler had become so convinced that the "real" invasion would take place in the Pas-de-Calais area that he held Von Salmuth's 15th Army in its position until July 24. By then it was too late. Ironically, Hitler seems to have been the only one who originally believed that the invasion would take place in Normandy."

The quality of this book is largely due to  the professionalism that the author showed throughout. Although from the Allied camp, there is not a single instance of a diatribe against Hitler or the Germans, outside the criticism from a military point of view. In that sense it is a just evaluation of the military might, bravery, mistakes from both sides. And as the title suggests, the 233 page account, is almost completely about the June 6th, 1944 - The Longest Day, and the day that started the downfall of the Hitler's Third Reich.

Unless you are from a military background ( this book was recommended to me by a retired Airman),  chances are you may not studiously keep track of all the regiments, and who did what - unless you indulge in repeated reads, which I concede is quite a possibility given the richness of the book. But what is more valuable is the account of commitment shown by the soldiers - those who landed at Normandy knew that the casualty rates would be high, and some estimated it to be high as 60%. It was a necessary sacrifice to get a footing so that there was hope of fighting another day. Many a life was sacrificed - a considerable number through the mistakes of others. War brings in unlikely heroes and unlikely survivors. It brought me back memories of the feelings of irony with which I completed "War and Peace". I leave this piece with the opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan", which captures the gory of the landing in Omaha beach, brilliantly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSKerypwUDM

( While I read a combination of the Coronet publication of 1968 and a kindle document made from a pdf - as is my preferred way of reading - the maps in the physical books I felt were inadequate. Hopefully the newer editions have better illustrated maps to compliment the reading experience. However am yet to see this in the local book shops. ).