Excellent premise and a must-read for WWII buffs. So many points here were so interesting to me--the inefficiencies of the German army, certain American miscalculations. In a strange sense, it almost seemed to dispel some of the myth-making around the invasion, to hear how hampered the German war effort was--the chain of command issues, their spotty intelligence, the lack of certain resources. In a way, it almost makes it possible to imagine a very different outcome, under not so different circumstances.

NetGalley, Brianna Marie

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This compilation and analysis of the German Higher Command perspective of the expected invasion of France, completes the circle of the overall situation and emphasis’s two important aspects of this period of WWII.
The first is the obvious friction and differences of opinion at the highest level on the German High Command as to the area that the allies would mount the invasion. This was compounded with the blind belief by some of the more important members of the Nazi Party the Hitler was omnipotent and he had stated that the invasion would come across the Pas de Calais. This in turn led to the reserve panzer divisions being misplaced to counter the landings in Normandy with the consequential Allied success in establishing a beachhead. The second is that the Allied deception techniques, the imposition of strict secrecy of the plans and the denial of reconnaissance flights of Southern England in the build up of the invasion, was completely successful.
Once the landings had started the German response was as immediate as it could be but as a few of the German Commanders had stated, especially Field Marchal Rommell, once the Allies had a foothold in France, the war was lost. One of the biggest handicaps for the German reinforcements was that Allied air supremacy during daylight meant the troops and amour could only move at night or face the very effective fighter-bomber patrols.
The book was a fascinating read as the post-war debriefs of the German Commanders gave a revealing insight into mindset of the Wehrmacht as opposed the Nazi doctrine.

NetGalley, Sandra Miller

This book offers the reader a somewhat eclectic mix of accounts from German senior officers, written postwar, setting out their recollections and analyses of the preparations for the anticipated allied landings and how the events of 5,6 and 7 June actually unfolded. The accounts are necessarily partisan, written with the benefit of hindsight and, often, making a case as to why the failure of the German defence was someone else’s fault - particularly Hitler’s. Despite these acknowledged weaknesses, the accounts reveal how the allied landings were fortunate not to encounter the German army at a peak of preparedness and equipped with adequate men and matériel. The resourcefulness of German forces when it came to counter attack is highlighted as is the cost this imposed on the allied armies in the fighting in the Normandy bocage.

NetGalley, Kevin Manley