Normandy ‘44: D-Day and the Battle for France

· Transworld Digital · Narrated by John Sackville
4.9
8 reviews
Audiobook
24 hr 20 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Normandy '44 by James Holland, read by John Sackville.
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Renowned World War Two historian James Holland presents an entirely new perspective on one of the most important moments in recent history. Unflinchingly examining the brutality and violence that characterised the campaign, it's time to draw some radically different conclusions.
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D-Day
and the 76 days of bitter fighting in Normandy that followed have come to be seen as a defining episode in the Second World War. Its story has been endlessly retold, and yet it remains a narrative burdened by both myth and assumed knowledge.

In this reexamined history, James Holland presents a broader overview, one that challenges much of what we think we know about D-Day and the Normandy campaign. The sheer size and scale of the Allies’ war machine ultimately dominates the strategic, operational and tactical limitations of the German forces.

This was a brutal campaign. In terms of daily casualties, the numbers were worse than for any one battle during the First World War.

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·Drawing on unseen archives and testimonies from around the world

·Introducing a cast of eye-witnesses that includes foot soldiers, tank men, fighter pilots and bomber crews, sailors, civilians, resistance fighters and those directing the action

·An epic telling that will profoundly recalibrate our understanding of its true place in the tide of human history

Ratings and reviews

4.9
8 reviews
Paul Draycott
May 21, 2023
Superb book - provides accounts from all perspectives (overall and many personal too) as well as outlining the logistics, politics and tactics. No glorification or sensationalism, a real account of an operation with devastating impact on human life and the reasons for those choices. Additionally the narrator is also fabulous in his delivery. I am delighted I bought it.
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Kevin Hunter
June 8, 2020
Well told story of the Normandy campaign and well read by the narrator. Thoroughly enjoyed and I highly recommend. If you love this check out James' Podcast "We have ways" too.
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About the author

James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including most recently Brothers In Arms and Normandy '44, he is also the author of ten works of fiction and a dozen Ladybird Experts.

He is the co-founder of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival which is now in its twelfth year, and he has presented - and written - many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the History and Discovery channels.

With Al Murray, he has a successful Second World War podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk, which also has its own festival, and is a research fellow at St Andrew's University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He can be found on Twitter as @James1940 and on Instagram as @jamesholland1940.

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