Six armies in Normandy - John Keegan

The Allied assault on Normandy beaches was an almost flawless success, but it was to take three months of bitter fighting before the German defence of Normandy finally collapsed and Paris was liberated.

In this masterly and highly individual account of that struggle, the reader is subjected to the grueling ordeals confronted by the combatants – each encounter related from the point of view of a different nationality. In this way we learn precisely what it was like to take part in the American airborne landings, move up the Canadian beachhead under a blistering hail of fire, attack on foot across country with Scottish infantry, engage the enemy from a British tank, move into the German counter-attack at Morain, close the Falaise Pocket under Polish command, and liberate Paris as a Free Frenchman.

Six Armies in Normandy transcends conventional military history while providing an intensely vivid picture of one of the Second World War’s most crucial campaigns.