D-Day

This is a picture book with a fair share of writing about what happened on June 6 and 7, 1944. On that date, British, Free French, American, and Canadian forces assaulted five beaches in Nazi occupied Normandy. Young details the battles that happened on the day of invasion, and one day after. What I found good in this book is the detail Young puts into the numbers. Five Divisions on the initial assault day versus 40 divisions in Nazi occupied Western Europe. If only the Germans were able to concentrate their numerical superiority on the day of invasion, they could have easily defeated the invasion. Instead, as Young points out, they tried to defend too many areas, and spread their forces too thin. Even placing experienced divisions into the likely areas could have defeated the invasion. The Allies deception on where they were going to land spread the German forces in many unlikely areas. This is how the Germans were defeated. Young was a Colonel commanding British commando forces in the initial assault on D-Day. He tells his story as well in this book. This was an enjoyable read, and their are some nice pictures in this book.