Eyewitness accounts have created a maze of contradictory information about the Normandy landings. Films and TV documentaries tend to glorify the D-Day tale, told through iconic heroes, almost akin to a Homeric Illiad account. Objective truth is so much more difficult to achieve. There were heroes yes, who were brave, generous and resolute in sacrificing thousands of lives to free people they had never met. But there was also human frailty in abundance. The assault on the normandy beaches was exactly what German propaganda foresaw should be the consequence of trying to breach Hitler’s invincible Atlantic Wall. The first hours appeared to realize the Allies worst fears. If this resistance and intensity of firepower had been replicated on the other four beaches, the story of D-Day might have had a different outcome. This book follows the assault on Omaha Beach hour by hour, and draws on the experiences of the German enemy and French allies and cilvilians, to provide a new and unique insight into perhaps the most important turning point in modern history.