Sword Beach: D-Day Baptism by Fire by Max Hastings

The history of D-Day in the west is usually dominated by a US-centric narrative that concentrates on Omaha Beach, at times even to the detriment of Utah. So questions about what happened on the other beachheads, Sword, Juno, and Gold, often remain left unanswered - they were seemingly sideshows to the main US effort, even though in retrospect the fact that those landing on Omaha Beach sustained the highest casualties might very well mean that it was the least successful part of D-Day.

In either case, here we have Max Hastings, a name well-known when it comes to popular histories of the Second World War, giving readers a glimpse into the efforts and follies of the British efforts on Sword Beach. From glider troops, to airborne forces and commandos, as well as regular infantry, readers will get a small taste of what each suffered through on D-Day as they attempted to fulfill their designated mission(s) in the face of enemy forces.

Will this book change your understanding of D-Day, the Second World War in general, or offer additional insights into the allied war effort? Not so much. The two main take-aways for this reader were that at times more things went wrong than right and there were quite a lot of Russians and other Eastern Europeans facing off with those landing on Sword Beach. So, if you're familiar with Hasting's work and have an interest in the usual journalistic take on events from the Second World War that mainly try to offer first-hand accounts intermixed with larger operational discussions, this is the book for you.