European Theater - World War II - Normandy Invasion

Omaha Beach

Name: Omaha Beach
Author: Joseph Balkoski
ISBN: 9780811733762

by Joseph Balkoski

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Overview

"Balkoski's depiction of 'Bloody Omaha' is the literary accompaniment to the white-knuckle Omaha Beach scene that opens Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan." — John Hillen, New York Post

In this unforgettable narrative of D-Day, Joseph Balkoski describes the minute-by-minute combat as it unfolded on Omaha Beach, allowing soldiers to speak for themselves as they recall their attempts to maneuver bombers through heavy cloud cover, the claustrophobic terror aboard transports, and the relentless fire that greeted them on the beach. Equal parts oral history and meticulous reconstruction, Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Normandy landings firsthand.

Synopsis

Although the assault on Utah Beach ultimately became one of the most successful military operations of World War II, its outcome was anything but certain. Not only was Utah the most isolated of the five D-Day beaches, but the airborne assault was of unprecedented size and complexity. Despite the perils, American troops confidently cascaded into that far corner of Normandy and contributed decisively to the Allied triumph on D-Day. With verve and authority, Balkoski describes how that victory was won.

About the Author: Joseph Balkoski is a historian specializing in D-Day and the Normandy campaign. He is currently the Command Historian of the Maryland National Guard and is the author of Omaha Beach (0811733777) and Beyond the Beachhead (0811732371).

About the Author, Joseph Balkoski

Joseph Balkoski is Command Historian of the Maryland National Guard. He has appeared as a D-Day expert on MSNBC, and his work has been praised by Joe Scarborough, the New York Post, the Washington Times, World War II magazine, and others. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Editorials

Stone & Stone Second World War Books - Bill Stone

"This is probably the best book ever written about Omaha Beach."

Publishers Weekly

Balkoski (Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Division in Normandy) makes officer and enlisted-men's first-person testimony the center of this account, with light contextualization in between, along with 34 b&w photos and 27 maps. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Each decennial anniversary of the Normandy landings has produced its own recounting of this momentous event in World War II. Although written soon after the war, Gordon Harrison's Cross-Channel Attack (1951) remains the starting point for all future accounts, and Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day (1959), which was followed by the Darryl F. Zanuck film, wonderfully popularized the story. In the early 1980s, John Keegan's magisterial Six Armies in Normandy (1982) set a new standard for scholarship, followed a decade later by an equally valuable telling by Stephen Ambrose with his D-Day: June 6, 1944 : The Climactic Battle of World War II (1994). Recently, Russell Hart provided an updated rendering with Clash of Arms: How the Allies Won in Normandy (2001). The Balkoski study is quite good and certainly compares favorably with Adrian Lewis's Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory (2001). Balkoski (Beyond the Beachhead) has skillfully blended first-person accounts with a well-researched narrative of what happened on that fateful morning and an artful sprinkling of detailed maps. Bastable's Voices from D-Day, however, is a patchwork of interviews and reminiscences interspersed with historical narrative, which reflects his journalistic background but does not break much new ground historiographically. Most libraries would benefit from the Balkoski volume, but only the largest need to consider Bastable's. Ed Goedeken, State Univ. Lib., Ames, IA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.