Omaha Beach

The first volume of a new series dedicated to exploring iconic moments in World War II history, Omaha Beach on D-Day is a fresh and captivating new take on one of the most important moments in World War II: the Allied forces storming the beach at Normandy. The photograph at the heart of this book is Robert Capa's world-famous shot of the Allied landing in 1944, and the authors of this remarkable work have gathered interviews, testimonials, contact sheets, and over forty pages of photographic archives from the Magnum Photos agency to fill in the history behind a single moment, captured forever on film.

Balkoski's depiction of 'Bloody Omaha' is the literary accompaniment to the white-knuckle Omaha Beach scene that opens Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. -- John Hillen, New York Post

“Simply breathtaking. It doesn’t simply offer alternatives to the history of Pointe du Hoc, it blows them away . . . for fans of anything WWII [or] D-Day.”—War History Online The Rangers mission was clear. They were to lead the assault on Omaha Beach and breakout inland. Simultaneously other Ranger units would scale the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to destroy the “huge” gun battery there and thus protect the invasion fleet from being targeted. But was the Pointe du Hoc mission actually necessary? Why did the Allies plan and execute an attack on a gun battery which they knew in advance contained no field guns? And more importantly, why did they ignore the position at Maisy that did? Using personal interviews with the surviving Rangers who fought on the beach and at Pointe du Hoc, Gary Sterne has made a painstaking study of what the Allies actually knew in advance of D-day and about the Maisy Battery. Maps, orders and assault plans have been found in the UK, German and US archives, many of which were not released from the Top Secrecy Act for 60+ years. Radio communications have been found from the Rangers as they advanced inland towards Maisy and intelligence evaluations made by the RAF of bombing missions directed at the site have now been released. All these combine to make this one of the most up-to-date references on the subject. “A gritty first hand-yard by yard account of what combat was like . . . will forever change the way you think about the battle for Omaha Beach and the importance of Pointe du Hoc.”—The Armourer

Original publication and copyright date: 2007.

An infantry company commander in the U.S. Army's heralded 1st Infantry Division, Capt. Joseph Turner Dawson led his men through some of the most brutal battles of World War II. From the invasion of North Africa in late 1942 through Sicily and the assault on Normandy to the push toward the German frontier late in 1944, his length of service on the frontlines was extraordinary, and his heroism while holding off the Germans on a ridge near Aachen, Germany, is legendary. Based on Dawson's own combat journal, this book focuses on leadership in combat during the greatest human drama of the twentieth century. Dawson is at the heart of the drama as he describes the strain of constant combat and its effect on the combat infantryman. His writings have been edited by the former chief military historian at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Col. Cole C. Kingseed, who succeeds masterfully in capturing the essence of combat leadership through the actions of this citizen-warrior. Although Dawson was an Army officer, the lessons his journal offer cut across service lines to help readers understand what makes a good frontline commander. The book is published in cooperation with the Association of the U. S. Army.

Reanalyzing military records and battle plans of the Normandy invasion, Lewis traces the evolution of combined operations (more than one nation) and joint operations (more than one service), as well as tactical doctrines from the inter-war period to 1944 to explain how the plan for swift victory at Omaha Beach went terribly wrong and turned into the bloodiest of the Allied invasions.