Disaster at D-Day : The Germans Defeat the Allies, June 1944

Author: Peter G. Tsouras

Paperback
240 pages (June 2000)
Publisher: Greenhill Books/Lionel Leventhal
ISBN: 1853674117
Dimensions (in inches): 0.74 x 9.22 x 6.22

Notes:

Table of Contents:

Decription:
29 illustrations 7 charts and maps 6 x 9
* The alternative D-Day campaign
* A gripping and shocking narrative of what might have been
* With maps and authentic illustrations
It is June 1944. The Allied armies are poised for the full-scale invasion of Fortress Europe. Across the Channel, the vaunted Wehrmacht lies waiting for the first signs of the invasion, ready for the final battle. What happens next is well known to any student of modern history but the outcome could have been very different, as Peter Tsouras shows in this devastating account of a D-Day in which plans, missions and landings go horribly wrong. In Tsouras' account, the effects of minor adjustments at the opening of the campaign gather momentum and impact upon all subsequent events. Without deviating from the genuine possibilities of the situation, he presents a scenario that keeps the reader guessing and changes the course of history. Peter G. Tsouras is a senior analyst at the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center. His other books include Gettysburg: An Alternate History (1-85367-265-3) and The Great Patriotic War.

Ed's Analysis:
The book was timed for the anniversary of D-Day. The book was worth being excited about. This book is written in the style of a military history of a battle. Therefore, few first-person accounts occur through the book (a la the killer angels), but do occur where needed. If you've ever read an overview of a battle, then that's what you'll get here. In our history the allies came ashore at d-day and the germans responded particularly slowly; by the time they had concentrated troops it was too late to push the allies into the sea. The narrative shows that an amazing confluence of events made an invasion of this magnitude possible; if any had gone wrong then the whole thing would have gone out of whack. In Tsouras' world the germans are a little faster and that makes all the difference. Don't expect an alternative history story like turtledove's. There's no hitler twirling his mustache and saying "if i send zee panzers here than i will foil zat roosevelt." What you do have is a compelling read for anyone who has ever read an account of stalingrad, or waterloo, or gettsyburg, and thought, gee, if the napoleon had sent this corps in here an hour earlier what might have happened? Also enjoyable is the author's bibliography and final pages, which assume a historian writing a history years later about these events.