Ten Days to D-Day - by David Stafford (Paperback)

About the Book

Instead of retracing the much-dissected actions of heads of state, Stafford brings to life the preparations for history's most formidable invasion through the eyes of the ground-level participants.

Book Synopsis

Ten days before the largest operation of World War II was launched, it was still one of the century's best-kept secrets -- thanks to countless ordinary people participating in one of history's most remarkable moments. David Stafford has written a riveting account of ten of those ordinary men and women -- including an American paratrooper, a German soldier, a nineteen-year-old English woman working on secret codes, a Parisian Jew in hiding, and a daring French resistance cell -- as they lived through ten very extraordinary days. Drawing on previously unpublished diaries and letters, Stafford gives readers a fresh point of entry into one of the most significant battles ever fought.Ten Days to D-Day buzzes with the pace of a novel, as Stafford moves from country to country, from character to character, including some of D-Day's leaders: Hitler, Rommel, Eisenhower, and Churchill. Stafford compellingly brings to life the final days before the invasion through the eyes of its participants, the citizens and soldiers that made history on June 6, 1944.

Review Quotes

"An original, absorbing and ultimately moving account of the hours leading up to [D-Day.]"

""Stafford has the precious gift of making technical subjects easy to follow; he writes clearly and maintains a strong narrative flow."

About the Author

A leading writer on military intelligence and project director at the Center for Second World War Studies at the University of Edinburgh, David Stafford is the author of Churchill and the Secret Service, Spies Beneath Berlin, and Ten Days to D-Day.