Summary of Max Hastings's Overlord

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The United States, which might have chosen to view the war in Europe as a distraction from the struggle against Japan, was instead persuaded to commit its greatest strength in the west.

#2 The outcome of the Second World War was never in doubt. But great delays and difficulties lay ahead in mobilizing America’s industrial might for the battlefield, and in determining by what strategy the Axis was to be crushed.

#3 The American government was initially afraid of a rapid Russian collapse, so they agreed to launch ROUNDUP with 48 Allied divisions in April 1943. But the British continued to fight to divert resources towards more modest objectives. In the summer of 1942, the Americans reluctantly agreed to launch GYMNAST, an operation for the invasion of French North Africa.

#4 The American Chiefs of Staff returned to Washington irritably conscious that they had been persuaded to adopt a course they did not favor. The British had at least acknowledged that north-west Europe must be invaded in 1944.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669393122

IRB Media

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Insights on Max Hastings 's Overlord

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The United States, which might have chosen to view the war in Europe as a distraction from the struggle against Japan, was instead persuaded to commit its greatest strength in the west.

#2

The outcome of the Second World War was never in doubt. But great delays and difficulties lay ahead in mobilizing America’s industrial might for the battlefield, and in determining by what strategy the Axis was to be crushed.

#3

The American government was initially afraid of a rapid Russian collapse, so they agreed to launch ROUNDUP with 48 Allied divisions in April 1943. But the British continued to fight to divert resources towards more modest objectives. In the summer of 1942, the Americans reluctantly agreed to launch GYMNAST, an operation for the invasion of French North Africa.

#4

The American Chiefs of Staff returned to Washington irritably conscious that they had been persuaded to adopt a course they did not favor. The British had at least acknowledged that north-west Europe must be invaded in 1944.

#5

The British were growing weary of the war, and their people were reaching the limits of their capacity to support the Allied offensive. They were beginning to feel that their strength was waning, and that they would never use it for a military offensive against western Europe.

#6

The Americans, on the other hand, were often judged unfairly by the British. They saw many difficulties in haste, but great virtues in delay. The British were reluctant to launch a campaign in Europe, but they were realistic about the German army’s dwindling numbers and the air forces’ strategic bombing efforts.

#7

The American strategic view was that Germany could have been defeated much earlier, if the Allied air supremacy had been maintained from the beginning and France had been invaded in 1943. But the American soldiers were not yet the equals of their German opponents.

#8

The planning and preparation of OVERLORD was not to slacken again. Through the winter of 1943 and even into the spring of 1944, other plans and problems were occupying the minds of the British and American high commands, but one by one, lesser operations withered on the bough.

#9

The COSSAC staff was handicapped by the fact that they were required to plan an operation with limited resources. They still were able to achieve a lot, though, as they drew upon the fruits of aerial reconnaissance and a canvass of Britain for pre-war holiday photographs of every yard of the coast line of France.

#10

The planning of the invasion was intense, and the staff worked painstakingly through every aspect of it. The priorities were Caen, Bayeux, and the road to St Lô, followed by the road to Falaise and the port of Cherbourg.

#11

Eisenhower was a great commander, but he was no battlefield commander. He was sensitive to the charge that he was timid, when he had had to do things that were so risky that they were almost crazy. But history has so far been confident in his greatness as Supreme Commander.

#12

The invasion was an American design, but for the British people, it represented a rebirth, a return, and a reversal of all the humiliations and defeats they had endured since 1939.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Bradley was 50 years old when he was assigned to lead the American army in north-west Europe. He was a commander of exceptional stability and discretion, whom men liked and immediately trusted. He could read a battle.

#2

Montgomery, after months of hesitation, had finally sketched out a feasible plan. He began to exert his own immense will to ensure that the resources would be found to land five divisions and secure a beachhead large enough to provide room for the