From the No. 1 bestselling historian Max Hastings comes 'a masterly book, rich in insight, shrewd and weighty in judgement' Financial TimesOn June 6, 1944 - D-Day - British, Canadian and American troops staged the greatest amphibious landing in history. It was the start of Operation Overlord, the battle to take Normandy from the Third Reich. Over ten gruelling weeks, the Allies fought the entrenched German army, some infantry units suffering an almost 100 per cent casualty rate.In Overlord, acclaimed historian Max Hastings has drawn on eyewitness accounts of survivors from both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped sources and documents, to write a gripping and authoritative account of the devastating fighting that paved the way for the liberation of north-west Europe.'A book which combines serious historical and critical comment with brilliant reportage. He brings both the arguments between higher commanders and the fighting on the battlefield itself to life more vividly than previous books' Times Literary Supplement

Section - i: List of Maps Section - ii: List of Illustrations Section - iii: Foreward Section - iv: Prologue Chapter - 1: 'Much the greatest thing we have ever attempted' Chapter - 2: Preperations: Commanders; Airmen; Invaders; Defenders Chapter - 3: To the Far Shore: The overture; The American beaches; The British beaches; Inland Chapter - 4: The British Before Caen: Closing the lines; Villers-Bocage; EPSOM Chapter - 5: The Americans Before Chebourg: The bocage; The battle for Chebourg Chapter - 6: The German Army: Stemming the Tide: Soldiers; Weapons Chapter - 7: The Battlefield: From the beachhead to the front; Casualties Chapter - 8: Crisis of Confidence: The fall of Caen; GOODWOOD Chapter - 9: The Breakout: COBRA; The limits of air power Chapter - 10: The Open Flank Chapter - 11: The Road to Falaise Chapter - 12: The Gap Section - v: Appendix A: Chronology of the Normandy Campaign Section - vi: Appendix B: Allied Order of Battle Section - vii: Appendix C: Forces available in ETO for Operation OVERLORD, D-Day, 6 June 1944 Section - viii: Appendix D: German land forces encountered by the Allies in Normandy Section - ix: Appendix E: Some British administrative statistics Section - x: Bibliography and a note on sources Section - xi: Notes and references Section - xii: Glossary Acknowledgements - xiii: Acknowledgements Index - xiv: Index