When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day
“presents D-Day history not as some sweeping battle narrative, but as the thousands of individuals stories that collectively decided the course of the battle that day.”
This year is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and with well over 200 volumes written about this most important day in World War II, it’s difficult to imagine any book breaking new ground. Yet Mr. Graff manages to bring a completely different perspective to this day in the same manner that his The Only Plane in the Sky so exquisitely captured the events of 9/11.
Drawing from numerous memoirs, published histories, and thousands of oral histories from all the involved countries, especially the extensive archive at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, the author captures the perspectives of generals and civilians and the numerous ordinary soldiers and sailors that fought on that momentous day.
Beginning with the outbreak of the war and the fall of France, the perspectives swiftly move to the beginning of the Allied planning, buildup of men and materiel, and the constant training the Americans, British, French, and other Allies went through during 1943 and early 1944. The German buildup is also detailed as their troops in France began the nearly impossible task of building fortifications along most of the Atlantic coast, unsure exactly where the expected invasion will occur but assuming it will be somewhere in the Pas de Calais region of France, the shortest route across the channel.
The author opens with the airborne drops across Normandy. The jump into the unknown was the first for many of the Allied paratroopers, and the widely scattered drops left many of them in unknown territory alone or in small groups. But the intrepid bands quickly organized themselves and moved in the darkness to their objectives, sowing confusion among the Germans as well. The special mission actions, particularly the seizure of Pegasus Bridge at the far eastern end of the invasion zone still stands out as one of the most daring and high-risk operations of the invasion that succeeded far beyond the expectations of the small band of British troops that survived the hazardous glider landings and fought to secure the bridge.
Once the author moves to the invasion beaches, the narration alternates between the Allied attackers and the German defenders, giving the reader a good sense of how each soldier only saw what was in front of them, trying to survive combat and take care of their buddies while under heavy fire. This is the real distinction of this book—it presents D-Day history not as some sweeping battle narrative, but as the thousands of individuals stories that collectively decided the course of the battle that day. As the day wore on and casualties rose, particularly on Omaha Beach in the American sector, there were no sweeping maneuvers, instead squads and platoons of American, British and Canadian troops fought their way off the beach through tough but brittle German defenses and kept the beachhead.
While the troops were fighting in Normandy, word of the invasion began to spread throughout the world, with the first spotty reports reaching the U.S. in the early morning and Winston Churchill officially announcing the invasion around noon to the British Parliament. News spread more slowly throughout the day as the fate of Omaha Beach and the various parachute drops continued to be in doubt. The author gives a good sense of the uncertainty that continued until President Roosevelt made a radio address late in the evening of June 6, and offered a prayer for the troops now secure on the continent of Europe.
The book closes with an epilogue about how those troops experienced that survived that day, only to know that months of heavy fighting would still be required before the final victory in Europe. The immediacy of this book really provides a vivid reminder of what this generation experienced keeping the world safe from fascism and militarism and how they literally freed a continent one day at a time.