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  • Published: 3 November 2020
  • ISBN: 9780552176118
  • Imprint: Corgi
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 864
  • RRP: $26.00
Categories:

Normandy ‘44

D-Day and the Battle for France




From established historian James Holland, this is the top ten bestselling and second biggest history book of 2019.

'A devastating new account..Holland knows his stuff when it comes to military matters' Daily Mail, Book of the Week
'A superb account of the invasion that deserves immense praise. To convey the human drama of Normandy requires great knowledge and sensitivity. Holland has both in spades' The Times
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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.

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.

Drawing on unseen archives and testimonies from around the world and introducing a cast of eye-witnesses including foot soldiers, tank men, fighter pilots and more, James Holland's epic telling profoundly recalibrates our understanding of its true place in the tide of human history.

The new, sweeping World War II book from James Holland, THE SAVAGE STORM, is available now.

  • Published: 3 November 2020
  • ISBN: 9780552176118
  • Imprint: Corgi
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 864
  • RRP: $26.00
Categories:

About the author

James Holland

James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including Battle of Britain, Dam Busters, Burma ’44 and, most recently, Big Week, he has also written nine works of historical fiction, including the Jack Tanner novels.

He is currently writing an acclaimed three-volume new history of the Second World War, The War in the West. He has presented – and written – many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, History and Discovery Channels.

He is also co-founder of the Chalke Valley History Festival and co-founder of WarGen.org, an online Second World War resource site, and presents the Chalk Valley History Hit podcast. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he also has a weekly podcast with Al Murray, We Have Ways of Making You Talk: Al Murray and James Holland Talk World War II. He can be found on Twitter as @James1940.

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Praise for Normandy ‘44

A superb account of the invasions that deserves immense praise…To convey the human drama of Normandy requires great knowledge and sensitivity. Holland has both in spades

The Times

An invigorating new history of the Allied invasion of France

Strong Words Magazine

A readable account of one of the 20th century's most defining battles provides a strategic overview enlivened by personal accounts of the horror ... for the general reader there are plenty of surprises

The i

An impressive new account of D-Day ... Holland knows his stuff when it comes to military matters ... he reads the minds of the generals, their tactics, their blunders - on both sides

Daily Mail

As an account of this mighty and vitally significant clash of armies, Normandy ’44 stands as richly impressive, hard to surpass

William Boyd, TImes Literary Supplement

Laced with firsthand accounts...the book provides an invaluable narrative

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

A powerful account of the invasion

The Times

Any past criticism of General Montgomery’s leadership and tactics is put into a fresh focus … armed with the newly-presented facts we are able to make sense of the broader picture

Best of British

An epic telling of the Normandy invasion … one of Britain’s foremost military historians

Warships