The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach Paperback – May 5, 2015

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the successful Allied campaign in Normandy during the summer months of 1944. The doom of Hitler's Reich was assured once the Allied armies broke out of the Norman hedgerows and converted a war of attrition into a war of maneuver. Breaking out at St. Lo, racing to Paris, vaulting the Rhein and crushing the industrial heart of Nazi Germany would never have been possible, however, without victory on the five D-Day beaches. The most important of the five-the key to achieving a successful lodgment-was the one for which the US Army paid the highest price: Omaha Beach. And victory at Omaha Beach would not have been had without the gallantry, courage, tenacity, skill, determination and sacrifice of the First Infantry Division, the Big Red One.Since its initial formation during World War I, the 1st Division has seen combat in every military conflict our nation has fought. In WW II, the Big Red One saw action in every major campaign in the European Theatre from the invasion of North Africa to the occupation of Berlin. The First Division was deployed in action for more than 400 days between the invasion of Tunisia and VE Day. But none of those days equalled in importance June 6, 1944.This book is the definitive account of that day for the Big Red One. No writer has ever captured the battle for Bloody Omaha as well as John C. McManus, whose narrative of these events focuses on the ordinary soldiers, and the small units who did the fighting....and the dying....that achieved the Division's foothold and successfully defended it from German counterattacks.No matter how well you think you know the history of D-Day, you will learn something new from McManus' extraordinarily thorough research. If instead you are drawn to military history only by the human drama of armed conflict, you will meet and come to know scores of memorable people with compelling personal stories. And if you are a skeptic who thinks that there is nothing in an account of events that took place seven decades ago that could be relevant today, read this book and your mind will be changed.Read this book, and prepare to be amazed and humbled by the exploits of ordinary Americans-men from all parts of the country, all walks of life, and all social backgrounds-who, as a result of intense training, inspirational leadership, and indomitable will, accomplished the extraordinary.

On June 6, 1944, the Allies launched the cross-channel invasion of France. Spearheading the attack on Omaha Beach was the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division. In this well-researched book, author John McManus takes the reader back to that defining day seventy years ago.From the outset, problems beset the members of the 1st Division. Landing craft dropped the soldiers in the wrong spot; men were forced to wade ashore under withering enemy fire; and men and vehicles became congested on the beach. The Germans controlled the high ground around the beach as well as several strong points armed with mortars, anti-tank guns, and pillboxes. These strong points rained bullets and shells upon the Americans.Faced with the difficult task of getting off the beach and inland, the soldiers, led by outstanding acts of individual heroism, slowly began to move. But the going was slow. It took hours to neutralize the German strong points, but eventually, the men of The Big Red One began to move inland.This is a first-rate book. Author John McManus does an exemplary job of describing the events of June 6, 1944. The narrative contains quotes from the soldiers themselves which gives the reader a true sense of what conditions were like on Omaha Beach. Each aspect of the landing is covered; from the terrible trip to shore aboard the Higgins boats to trying to get off the beach, to finally moving inland.I give "The Dead And Those About To Die" my highest recommendation. This book describes the major event in the European War and how the fighting spirit of the American soldier helped to liberate Europe.

The author has done an admirable job of telling the story of the Big Red One at Omaha Beach. I really appreciate the fact that he spent very little time on the build-up to the invasion. That story has been told countless times. Rather his focus is on D-Day, and the author paints a powerful portrait of the scene on June 6, 1944. Of all the books on D-Day that I've read this one most vividly captures the fear of the men heading in to the beach. It's powerful. The challenge for the author is to tell a coherent narrative in the midst of a battlefield that was utter chaos. He mostly succeeds in my view, as a multitude of personal accounts are woven in and are generally in chronological order. Toward the end of the book the author devoted a number of pages to the engineers and medics. While the information was quite good and an important part of the story to be told, t did feel a little out of place in the book to me.I do recommend this book and it really has added to my understanding of that day of days. Kudos to the author and may God bless all who have served or are serving in the Big Red One. What we owe them is incalculable.

Livre remarquable pour ses qualités historiques , son sens du détail et sa description de l’importance de l’élément humaindans les terribles premières heures

Too dull, too routine even for an account of death and destruction. I found very little that was new and almost no attempt to embed the description in anything else that was happening.So it was okay for a summer read on the annivesary of D-Day but I do not think that it will stand out over time.djc

Aktuelles Buch aber wenig Neues - aber was soll auch nach so langer Zeit noch zu einem Thema geschrieben werden, das in epischer Breite von vielen auch sehr angesehenen Historikern behandelt wurde?McManus beschränkt sich allerdings auf den Abschnitt der "Big Red One." So behält man als Leser etwas besser den Überblick als bei den umfassenderen Werken von Balkowski und anderen. Wobei "Omaha" von Balkowski nach wie vor der Stand der Dinge bei der Literatur über "Omaha" bleibt.Lesenswert und informativ ist das Buch aber allemal!

I'm only halfway through this superb book, but it is compulsive eating, the author has done his research on the assault on Omaha beach, by the Big Red One, even the description of the change of command and rebuild of the division before D-Day makes interesting reading, although I have not read the entire book as yet, I can highly recommended it for anybody who is interested in the assault on Omaha beach!!

Great account. It was a butcher shop and makes Private Ryan - the first 20 minutes - look like a walk in the park.