Destination Normandy: Three American Regiments on D-Day
Each participant's story is woven into the larger picture of the assault, allowing Bennett to go beyond the largely personal viewpoints yielded by traditional oral history but avoiding the impersonal nature of studies of grand strategy. In addition to the interviews and memoirs Bennett collected, he also discovered fresh documentary evidence from American, British, and French archives that play an important part in facilitating this new approach, as well as archives in Britain and France. The author unearths new stories and questions from D-Day, such as the massacre of soldiers from the 507th at Graignes, Hemevez, and elsewhere. This new material includes a focus on the regimental level, which is all but ignored by historians, while still covering strategic, tactical, and human issues. His conclusions highlight common misperceptions about the Normandy landings. Questions have already been raised about the wisdom of the Anglo-American amphibious doctrine employed on D-Day. In this study, Bennett continues to challenge the assumption that the operation was an exemplary demonstration of strategic planning. |
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Batteries of heavy guns were constructed that could cover likely landing zones along the European coast . Heavy guns captured in the defeat of ... Along the coastal zone , “ resistance nests ” were situated along vulnerable beaches .
American forces would land on beaches codenamed Utah on the Cotentin Peninsula and Omaha on the coast of Normandy . The British and Canadians would land at three other beaches ( Gold , Sword , and Juno ) on the coast of Normandy .
1st Lt. ROBERT C. HARGROVE , 01296853 ; his men pinned down in initial assault on coast of France , exposed himself to intense enemy fire , reorganized his platoon and led successful assault on enemy positions .
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Contents
Operation Bolero and the Clash of Cultures | 1 |
Three Regiments and the Mind of the GI | 7 |
Early Training and the Buildup to June 6 1944 | 17 |
Copyright | |
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