Ten Days to D-Day: Countdown to the Liberation of Europe

Ten Days to D-Day: Countdown to the Liberation of Europe

by David Stafford (Author)

Synopsis

D-Day, 6th June 1944, was the climactic battle of the Second World War. Allied triumph was anything but inevitable - there was everything to play for and everything to lose. The story of the actual landings has been told and re-told many times, but no one has actually revealed the part that fate, human error, political infighting, deception and double agents played in the crucial ten days before the landings. David Stafford's compelling narrative, climaxing on the eve of D-Day, gives a day-by-day account of the untold human story behind this momentous event from both the Allied and Nazi perspectives. Stafford focuses on twelve very different human narratives - not only those of Hitler, Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill and Rommel, but of an American paratrooper; a Canadian infantryman; a French Jew in hiding, awaiting Liberation but helpless to do anything; and SOE agents fighting to keep their identity secret. TEN DAYS TO D-DAY recounts the entirety of events in the countdown that could have taken a fatefully different direction so many times along the way, revealing how narrow the margin was between victory and defeat. David Stafford, a historian tenured at the University of Edinburgh, is a critically acclaimed chronicler of World War II and is the author of CHURCHILL AND SECRET SERVICE and ROOSEVELT AND CHURCHILL.

$3.34

Save:$6.96 (68%)

Quantity

3 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 366
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Abacus
Published: 29 Apr 2004

ISBN 10: 0349115974
ISBN 13: 9780349115979
Book Overview: * Extensive review and feature coverage anticipated across the media * Ongoing author PR activity to include media interviews and appearances at literary festivals * Submitted for trade promotions * Reading copies available

Media Reviews
As Stafford's publishers say, it reads like a thriller...a gripping read. Allan Mallinson, THE TIMES Meticulously reconstructed and carefully interwoven...it is a double triumph of gripping and sensitive celebration. TLS A miliatary expert and lecturer, Stafford is concerned with the ordinary Joes who were ripped from humdrum lives and thrown to the fates. That he manages to chronicle their part in the landings and still give due respect to the courage and leadership of Churchill and Eisenhower and their ilk is the mark of a work worthy of classic status. GLASGOW HERALD A fine book. SPECTATOR
Author Bio
David Stafford, a former diplomat, has written extensively on intelligence history and is the author of, among other books, THE SILENT GAME and CHURCHILL AND SECRET SERVICE. He is Project Director of the Centre for Second World War Studies at the University of Edinburgh.