Landing on the Edge of Eternity: 24 Hours at Omaha Beach

Kershaw (24 Hours at the Somme), a military historian and former British soldier, gives a meticulously researched, gripping account of what is now praised as a great Allied victory, but at the time seemed like a crude slaughter: the Allies’ near-defeat at Omaha Beach. The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, began the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation, and its success hinged on the landing by American troops at Omaha Beach. This minute-by-minute account starts with Gen. Dwight Eisenhower worrying the landing would fail. His fears were rapidly confirmed; nearly 4,700 American were killed or wounded there. Allied command and planning decisions come in for fair criticism, and the shortcomings of the pre-landing bombardment by Allied air and naval forces are explored both through tactical analysis and the accounts of infantrymen who left their landing craft and saw their fellow soldiers butchered at the water’s edge. Kershaw’s research into the crack German troops stationed at Omaha is exceptionally detailed. Kershaw brings home the significance of the battle with suspense and uncertainty that has been glossed over in other recent accounts. (Nov.)