D-DAY: THE INVASION THAT SAVED CIVILIZATION

An anthology of articles from WWII Quarterly magazine

SYNOPSIS:

Operation Overlord, the code name for the largest combined air-and-sea in history, was a one-shot effort. If it failed, the Allies might never have another opportunity to invade Europe and crush Nazi Germany. Years in the planning, Overlord demanded the greatest accumulation of men, materiel, and equipment ever assembled by the Americans and British. That it succeeded was a testiment to General Eisenhower and his staff and the courage and tenacity of the participants.

For twelve years Flint Whitlock was the editor of WWII Quarterly, from which these 16 articles were taken. Each one focuses on a different facet of Overlord from American, British, and Canadian perspectives to provide a broad understanding of the effort required for its success.

The original plan called for a camp housing 20,353 officers and men, and 11,288 animals. This was reduced a month later to 16,392 humans and 3,925 animals. But before the military camp could be built, a camp for the construction workers, near the Pando railroad depot, needed to go up. Work on it commenced on April 15, when several feet of snow still covered the ground. A trailer camp for 1,050 workmen and their families was also installed; many workers had to find lodging in Leadville, Minturn, and Red Cliff, and commute to the site every day. Incredibly, the army post was finished in November 1942—seven months later!

Many of the pictures in this book depict a light-hearted air on the part of the young, fresh-faced soldiers in the prime of their lives. And no wonder—they are (or seem to be) enjoying the pleasures of skiing, of mountain climbing, of hiking in the pristine wilderness; who wouldn’t enjoy that? Not visible are the gnawing fears that each man must have had—fears of what lay ahead if and when they were deployed to battle. Who would come back? Who would suffer grievous wounds, even the loss of limbs? Who would never ski or climb again? The smiling faces in these photos mask the unstated dread of war.

“With the publication of D-Day: The Invasion That Saved Civilization, author and editor Flint Whitlock presents unforgettable, heart-pounding stories of the World War II D-Day invasion that began the push-back of Hitler’s seemingly unstoppable war machine and eventually led to the Allied victory and Germany’s defeat.

“It’s the gripping story of the Allies smashing through Hitler’s Atlantic Wall with the sky troopers and soldiers who overcame their fear of death to liberate a continent on the battle-torn beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, a day forever known and celebrated as D-Day.

“Nicely illustrated with occasional B/W historical photography and featuring a twelve-page Index, D-Day: The Invasion That Saved Civilization is an exceptionally well written, organized and presented military history that is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, high school, and college/university library World War II history collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.”

—Midwest Book Review

“This new book is a collection of major actions and events of D-Day written by eminent historians that originally appeared in WWII Quarterly. A good book full of interesting battle stories written in engaging prose.”

—WWII History magazine

Available from Cable Publishing, & Amazon Kindle,
ISBN 978-1-934980-81-1
$18.99 (softcover only)
(Kindle, $9.95)