Battlebus Recommended Books

Almost every day on tours we are asked by clients “which books on D-Day do you recommend?” Though many hundreds of books have been written about the invasion and the battles in 1944, some are better than others. Therefore we have prepared a list of books that we think are particularly good and worth buying. Obviously we cannot guarantee that you will enjoy them like we do, but in our opinion these books here are all both highly readable, but perhaps more importantly, historically accurate. These books are not necessarily by big-name authors such as Stephen Ambrose who's books are already widely known.  Most of these books are available at the usual Internet stores such as Amazon and Borders, others are trickier to find and may have to be searched as "used" copies. Some are available directly from the author's website, and in these cases we provide a link.  We will also post reviews of new books on our Battlebus forum.

Paul Woodadge - Battlebus owner and Tour Manager

82nd Airborne Troops on D-Day
Down to Earth is our friend Martin Morgan's excellent book on the 507th Parachute Infantry, who fought at places like La Fiere and Graignes that we visit on our American Experience tour. Martin is a senior researcher at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and is a superb historian.

Phil Nordyke's All American All the Way is a massive book chronicling the 82nd throughout WWII, and Four Stars of Valor is his latest work on the 505th, who's A Company men held the line at La Fiere and who's F Company landed in Sainte Mere Eglise. Phil's books are also available from his own website where you can purchase autographed copies. Phil has become the authority on the 82nd Airborne and his access to archives and veterans accounts is noticeable in the detail in his books.

General James Gavin's autobiography On to Berlin is one of the best books by a senior American officer I have ever read. Gavin was the youngest general since the Civil War and his book tells of both his combat time and his involvement in the planning of Airborne operations. It comes highly recommended by us.

Lastly as a photographic study of Airborne troops in combat, try Michel de Trez's Sainte Mere Eglise book, which is simply packed with photos taken in Normandy. All Michel's books are also available via his website .

Other 82nd Airborne books worthy of a mention are:
No Better Place to Die by Robert Murphy
Let's Go by Wayne Pierce
First Men In by Ed Ruggero
Put on your Boots and Parachutes by Deryk Wills

Omaha Beach
Beyond the Beachhead by Joseph Balkoski is a great book about the 29th Division. It details their history, formation, training and eventual combat in Normandy. It takes the reader from bloody Omaha on through the hedgerows to St Lô in July 1944. This is one of the main books used by the Battlebus team for information about the western side of Omaha beach and the tough fighting there. He also has a book on Omaha Beach , this and Beyond the Beachhead can be bought direct from the author (a friend of ours) via his personal website  (USA customers only) His Omaha book is without doubt the best book on the subject and is the key book us Battlebus guides use in researching that subject.

The next book is a more personal one - The Bedford Boys chronicles the men of Bedford, Virginia who lost their lives on Dog Green in the first minutes of D-Day. The author Alex Kershaw has penned a wonderfully moving book about some of the men of the 116th RCT who landed all those years ago.

Having covered the 29th Division with the previous two books here's one about the Big Red One - the 1st Infantry Division The Fighting First by Flint Whitlock covers the Division's complete service in WWII, but has an extensive portion on Omaha and their tough time on Fox Green for example. Well written and with numerous personal stories it's a great work.

Lastly we recommend the writings of our dear friend Harold Baumgarten of B/116th who landed on Omaha beach, his new book D-Day Survivor is a much expanded version of his previous book. Harold is a great friend of ours and we tell his story on many of our tours.

Gold Beach
The two Battleground Europe books on Gold Beach are both highly enjoyable and contain lots of interesting stories and background information about the opposing forces. They are also guide-books enabling the visitor to drive themselves around the battlefields.  Gold Beach Jig Sector and West is by Tim Saunders and covers the western landings and the artifical harbour at Arromanches.  Gold Beach Inland and King by Christopher Dunphie is possibly the best title in the Battleground Europe series and covers events up to Villers Bocage.

The biography of Stan Hollis VC of the Green Howards Regiment who's exploits we cover on our tours D-Day Hero by Mike Morgan is also a great addition to the D-Day buff's library.

Sword Beach
Assault Divison by Norman Scarfe is a great book about the British 3rd Division by a veteran who was there. Written shortly after the war it has recently been re-published. In addition to covering the landings, it is a great book about the battles for Caen and inland after D-Day.

Invasion by Piper Bill Millin is a great first-person account and worth reading. Bill was Lord Lovat's personal piper and played himself in the movie The Longest Day. Bill was brought up in the Scottish Highlands and it's his very “Scottishness” that makes this such a pleasant read.

The Sword Beach edition by Carl Shilleto in the Battleground Europe series is another great little book, it deals with the landings in detail together with the battles for Hillman and the outskirts of Caen.

Finally I would like to suggest Thank God and the Infantry by John Lincoln, who landed with the Royal Norfolk Regiment on D-Day. I met Mr Lincoln a few times when I was still in England, and his book is an enjoyable work about the poor Tommy in North West Europe.

101st Airborne Troops on D-Day
101st Airborne Screaming Eagles in World War II  and Screaming Eagles at Normandy are just two of Mark Bando's tributes to the 101st Airborne, packed with photos and information about the men who made up the Division. These great books are well worth adding to your bookshelf. Mark is a great friend of ours and having interviewed nearly a thousand WWII Screaming Eagle veteran, he is THE authority on the division. We also suggest visiting his own website .  You can read my reviews of Mark's books on Amazon.

The Filthy Thirteen is a tale of warfare with the unit that inspired the Dirty Dozen movie. Jake McNiece is a wonderful story-teller, but you do have to take some of his tales with a pinch of salt. His ragtag unit of misfits create a book of bawdy, shocking and exciting stories.  We've met Jake a few times and he's a true "one of a kind."

Behind Hitler's Lines is the incredible true story of Jumpin' Joe Beyrle, who's exploits we often relate on our American Experience Tour. His son is a great friend of ours and his story - the only paratrooper to end up serving with the Russians in WWII is inspiring, thrilling and moving.

Finally in this section is Donald R Burgett's first book (his other three are equally good) Currahee a Screaming Eagle in Normandy . No-one told the experiences of the young GI paratrooper better than Don. He is a great friend of ours and his books simply place you there in the action. They are a rollercoaster ride of thrills and scares through combat in Europe.  Don has his own website here.

A different type of read is Jerome McLaughlin's D-Day Plus 60 Years , which is a great account about the Normandy invasion from the point of view of the Troop Carrier pilots, and also a personal tale about a nephew's two decade quest to learn about his uncle's death on D-Day.  This book is a fine tribute to the men who took the Airborne troops to France and culminates in the author's family helping erect a memorial in France to the missing crews.

More books on the Screaming eagles worth reading are:
George Koskimaki's books - George was General Maxwell Taylor's radioman in WWII were for many years the only books available on the 101st.  Hells Highway and the Battered Bastards of Bastogne are two of his works.
The Cow that Spoke French by Bill True
Beyond Band of Brothers by Major Richard Winters and Cole Kingseed

Utah Beach
War Stories - Utah Beach to Pleiku by Robert O. Babcock is a great book about the 4th “Ivy” Division who landed on Utah. They may have had the easiest landing on 6th June, but things soon took a turn for the worse as they headed up the peninsula to Cherbourg. The 4th were in the thick of the action for weeks encountering stubburn German resistance. This book charts their progress through to VE day.

Utah Beach by Joseph Balkoski is like his brilliant Omaha Beach book a scholarly and well-researched addition to the various works on the “other” American beach on D-Day. Joe's meticulous research is what you notice, and the stunning way he explains his sources and statistics.

War from the Ground Up is a good book about the 90th Division who battled their way through the bocage inland from Utah beach. It lacks maps and photos, but makes up for that with an interesting text.

If you Survive by George Wilson an officer in the 4th Divison is one of my favorite veteran's accounts are definitely worth seeking out.

American Rangers on D-Day
The Liberation of Pointe du Hoc by Joanna McDonald, is sadly the only book by a female author on our books page, but it's a cracker. Joanna relied heavily on the memoirs and archives provided by the surviving veterans themselves and has produced a great work. Some unique photos and authoritative lists of participants and awards and decorations make it a must have.

The Battalion by Robert Black is a great book on the 2nd Battalion who attacked Pointe du Hoc on D-Day. The tale of the battle there has often been badly and inaccurately told over the years, but this and Robert's other books on Rangers in WWII are historically accurate..

The battles of the 5th battalion are wonderfully told in Robert Edlin's book Fool Lieutenant, which tells the incredible story of this DSC winning American hero. It's one man's view of combat with the Rangers but offers an enthralling insight into this famous elite unit.

There is another famous and widely sold book on the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc that is not on my list of recommended titles. This is not an error on my part, I have simply decided to list the books that I think are worth getting. It is therefore not on this page for a reason.

British and Canadian Airborne Books
This group of titles are about the British and Canadian Red Berets who landed around the Orne river and canal just after midnight on June 6th.

Pegasus Bridge and Merville Battery is a must have in the Battleground Europe series. It literally has everything you need to know about where and how the British and Canadian Airborne fought in Normandy from June 6th until August 1944. By Carl Shilleto, it has routes to follow around the sites and memorials, it is packed with stories from the men themselves and is small enough to fit into a coat pocket!

By Denis Edwards a wartime member of the Ox and Bucks, The Devil's Own Luck charts the history of the 2nd Battlion Oxf and Bucks from Pegasus Bridge and on through to the Baltic. It was a company of these men under Major John Howard who came in by glider to seize the bridges over the canal and river on June 6th. This is a book written by the guys themselves and fleshed out with Denis' 1944 diary - a brilliant read.

Neil Barber's book on 9th Parachute Battalion, The Day the Devil's Dropped in is an excellent book, these are the men that under Colonel Otway attacked Merville Battery.

Also worth purchasing is Georges Bernages book on the 6th Airborne Division entitled Red Devils in Normandy it is packed with photos, maps and stories, and is a great companion to some of the veteran's memoirs available.

For the Canadians there is no better book than veteran paratrooper Dan Hartigan's book A Rising of Courage . Dan was there on D-Day and fought with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion throughout their time in north-west Europe.

Amazon don't stock it, but another great book is A Tale of Two Bridges by Barbara Maddox and Peter Pine-Coffin son of the 7th Battalion Parachute Regiment CO who lead the men in Normandy. It is a brilliant book about the men who suffered dozens of casualties on D-Day alone and then endured weeks of tough fighting. The Tale of Two Bridges, priced £12.99, can be ordered from KerryType Ltd, Chancton House, The Wharf, Midhurst, West Sussex, GU29 9PX. The first edition is limited to 1,000 copies.

D-Day Books
These books are general works about the larger picture, units involved and the battles they fought - all are titles the Battlebus staff extensively.

Decision in Normandy by Carlo D'Este is simply the best book I have found about the overall planning of the battle. Though written by an American author Carlo D'Este it does not fall into the usual habits of criticising Montgomery and the British chiefs of staff without reason. By drawing on official accounts and interviews, he builds up a great picture of Eisenhower and his staff and commanders, the mistakes made, lessons learnt, the struggles and eventual victory.

Spearheading D-Day - is a fantastic coffee table sized glossy book by another Battlebus friend Jonathan Gawne. This unique book takes you through all the specialist American units that helped clear Utah and Omaha beaches, the underwater demolitions teams, the Rangers, the Naval parties, the Engineers etc. It shows you their equipment and uniforms and is packed with training and action photos from 1944. This book is a “must have”.

Operation Overlord by Max Hastings has long been hailed as the best “one volume” book about D-Day and Normandy, it's been re-printed many times and remains one of the best books. It can't cover the battle in minute detail, but it encapsulates the struggles and engagements quite accurately.

A specialist book and a real whopper at 944 pages Bodyguard of Lies by Anthony Cave-Brown is a wonderful book about Operation Fortitude and the deception and intelligence campaigns that ran alongside Overlord and the invasion. It tells you about double-agents, Enigma, code-breakers and boffins, inflatable fake tanks and the men behind these mysteries and double-crosses.

Juno Beach
Here are a few good books on the often neglected Canadian sector: Fields of Fire is by Terry Copp the world renowned authority on the Canadians in WWII. Terry is a historian, author, lecturer and tour guide. Fields of Fire gives a good highly readable account of the often overlooked Canadian contribution to the Normandy Campaign. In addition to this title anything else penned by Terry is going to be a brilliantly factual and accurate book.

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This page last modified on Saturday, October 31st 2009

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