Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

The story of the planning and execution of the "Climactic Battle of World War II" is told from the viewpoint, and often in the words of, the ordinary GIs and Tommies who fight it. It opens as planning begins in January 1944, and closes at dark on D-Day itself, optimistic that a good beginning has been made towards liberating Europe from the Germans.

"The Defenders" describes how Hitler depends on an "Atlantic Wall," to repel an Allied invasion. Hitler hopes to negotiate a separate peace with Stalin, so he can redeploy the decimated Wehrmacht (army) to the West, where the strategic Rhine-Ruhr industrial region is menaced. Once the Allies are thrown back, he can return attention eastward. Hitler's priorities are sound, but Germany lacks the resources for a three-front battle along a combined 11,000-kilometers. Its cities are being carpet bombed, manufacturing losses...