cover image Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die: How the Allies Won on D-Day

Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die: How the Allies Won on D-Day

Giles Milton. Picador, $30 (432p) ISBN 978-1-250-13492-9

This extensively researched collection of individual accounts of D-Day from historian Milton (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) is a labor of love and respect with some shortcomings. American, British, Canadian, French, and German voices are woven together to convey the scale of an attack that involved hundreds of thousands of troops, 7,000 ships, staggering numbers of aircraft, and a dizzying array of strategic objectives required to dislodge the Nazis from northwest France and begin the liberation of occupied Europe. British commandos on bicycles rush to the front lines in Benouville; American Col. Charles Canham has his rifle shot out of his hand and keeps advancing on Omaha Beach with only a pistol; American bombardier Al Corry’s life is miraculously saved as a pocket notebook blocks shrapnel from entering his chest. Though Milton’s writing is often vivid, it can be susceptible to cliché (he describes several different people as “adventurers” in Boys’ Own adventure style), and the decision to frequently omit military ranks obscures the important role played by junior officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted men in the victory. But readers will still be thrilled and moved by this sweeping mosaic. Agent: Georgia Garrett, Rogers, Coleridge and White Literary Agency. (Mar.)