Sand and Steel

Peter Caddick-Adams's account of the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 matches the monumental achievement of his book on the Battle of the Bulge, Snow and Steel, which Richard Overy has called the standard history of this climactic confrontation in the West. Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg.

In addition to covering the build-up to the invasion, including the elaborate and lavish campaigns to deceive Germans as to where and when the invasion would take place, Caddick-Adams gives a full and detailed account of the German preparations: the formidable Atlantikwall and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's plans to make Europe impregnable-plans not completed by June 6. Sand and Steel reveals precisely what lay in wait for the Allies. But the heart of the book is Caddick-Adams' narratives of the five beaches where the terrible drama played out--Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword, and the attempt by American, British, and Canadian soldiers to gain a foothold in Europe.

The Allied invasion of Europe involved mind-boggling logistics, including orchestrating the largest flotilla of ships ever assembled. Its strategic and psychological demands stretched the Allies to their limits, testing the strengths of the bonds of Anglo-American leadership. Drawing on first-hand battlefield research, personal testimony and interviews, and a commanding grasp of all the archives and literature, Caddick-Adams's gripping book, published on the 75th anniversary of the events, does Operations Overlord and Neptune full justice.

"Peter Caddick-Adams's account of the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 matches the monumental achievement of his book on the Battle of the Bulge, Snow and Steel, which Richard Overy has called the "standard history of this climactic confrontation in the West." Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg. The Allied invasion of Europe involved mind-boggling logistics, including orchestrating the largest flotilla of ships ever assembled. Its strategic and psychological demands stretched the Allies to their limits, testing the strengths of the bonds of Anglo-American leadership. Drawing on first-hand battlefield research, fresh personal testimony, and a commanding grasp of all the archives and literature, Caddick-Adams's book does Operation Overlord full justice. Sand and Steel shows as well how liberating France hinged on two other key elements: the activities of the French Resistance and Operation Dragoon, which involved landing 887 ships along the French Rivera, including seven aircraft carriers and 2,000 plans. It was Dragoon as much as Overlord that inspired resistance fighters throughout France to rise up. The implementation of Dragoon was controversial. Backed by Eisenhower and Stalin the other D-Day invasion was strongly opposed by Churchill, who believed a less costly breakthrough in the Mediterranean was imminent. This volume in Caddick-Adams's epic trilogy of the final year of World War II is the first book to incorporate all the elements of D-Day, and to reveal in full what lay behind eventual Allied victory in Europe."--

Sand and Steel will likely be the standard work on D-Day for some time to come. -- The NYMAS Review

It's rare for a book about as huge a subject as the Normandy invasion to be totally comprehensive, but Sand & Steel genuinely is. The product of Peter Caddick-Adams' lifetime's fascination with and investigation into D-Day, its precursors and its aftermath, nothing else will need to be written on Operation Overlord for decades. Whether you are a visitor to the Normandy battlefields, a general reader interested in the greatest amphibious assault in the history of warfare, or just someone who appreciates extremely well-written military history and wants to know what it was like to have experienced combat in one of Mankind's most decisive struggles, this truly extraordinary book is undoubtedly the one for you. -- Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

Peter Caddick-Adams is one of our brightest military historians and SAND AND STEEL offers the whole enchilada: deep research, operational acumen, and taut, terse writing. He gives us every beach, every army, every minute, with a humane eye, and with none of the special pleading for this nation or that general that tends to mar such volumes. Caddick-Adams was there thirty-five years ago when President Ronald Reagan immortalized the boys of Pointe du Hoc and all the others, vowing that we would always remember them. This book helps fulfill that pledge. -- Rob Citino, Senior Historian, the National World War Two Museum, New Orleans, author of Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm and The German Way of War

Even those who know a great deal about the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944 will find much to admire in this detailed account. Peter Caddick-Adams punctures a number of D-Day myths, but he is at his best in weaving together the personal stories from hundreds of interviews compiled over two decades, and the result is an account of the campaign viewed not only from the conference room or headquarters, but also from the deckplate, the cockpit, the turret, and the foxhole of ordinary soldiers, sailors and airmen. -- Craig L. Symonds, author of Operation Neptune and World War II at Sea

A brilliant exploration of the military aspects of Overlord, this is an account of fortitude and an investigation of success. Following his excellent study of the Battle of the Bulge, Caddick-Adams does it again by explaining, as opposed to simply describing, the Allies' victory. -- Jeremy Black, author of Rethinking World War Two

Sand and Steel envelops the reader like a thrilling movie- shifting, with cinematic suspense, to either side of the looming Second Front in Normandy. Caddick-Adams is as good on the Germans as the Allies, and neatly describes technology, tactics, the intelligence game, and the leading personalities. We watch the opposing armies form and train - in the fields of England and France- and shudder at their impact on D-Day, with the Allies fighting for every inch of beach and the Germans bitterly resisting. -- Geoffrey Wawro, author of Sons of Freedom, A Mad Catastrophe, and The Franco-Prussian War.

A thorough, exciting, and altogether excellent choice for World War II--and especially D-Day--aficionados.--Kirkus, Starred Review

This really extraordinary volume stands to become the new benchmark narrative, conveying both the scale and individual experiences of that momentous operation in a sharp and highly readable book... Caddick-Adams brings not only a historian's skill of research and narrative, he also incorporates his experiences as a military officer and battlefield explorer to add vignettes on the veterans he's personally met and interviewed, and a sort of battlefield archeology of the surviving monuments, bunkers, and other landmarks that still exist... There will no doubt be many new books to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. If you can only read one, make it this book.
--New York Journal of Books

For the technical purist, Peter Caddick-Adams's Sand and Steel provides wonderful insight into war on the Western Front. With this follow-up to his magisterial Snow and Steel (2014), on the Battle of the Bulge, Mr. Caddick-Adams weighs in with a detailed chronicle that hard-core World War II buffs will relish.--Wall Street Journal

The season's best comprehensive one-volume history of Operation Overlord.--Christian Science Monitor

For anyone wanting as complete an account of the invasion of Normandy
as possible, while still appreciating admirable clarity, insight and enjoyable prose, Caddick-Adams' epic will become a volume frequently pulled off the shelf.--Roanoke Times

By far one of the most authoritative sources... Sand & Steel is a modern tour de force in military history, and will take its place among the other notable titles that have captured our imagination when reviewing the heroics of June 6, 1944.--CHOICE Reviews

With Sand and Steel, he has produced an account of the D-Day operation that is impressive, insightful, and very readable... Sand and Steel will likely be the standard work on D-Day for some time to come.--StrategyPage

Sand and Steel brings to bear an extraordinary volume of primary and secondary material on both familiar and lesser known actions, all the while weaving the personal narratives of the men involved into an analysis of the operational context of their part in the longest day. As if that were not enough, Peter Caddick-Adams offers in passing sober assessments of D-Day's historiography, correcting inaccuracies and dispelling hallowed myths. All in all, an extraordinary achievement in the true sense of the word.--Michigan War Studies Review