Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: PEGASUS BRIDGE by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 0-671-67156-1 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 15 November, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.24 (34 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good War Story
Comment: Hats off to Capt. John Howard and D Company of Britain's "Ox and Bucks" regiment. As the first Allied unit to land in France on D-Day, these glider borne men had the job of capturing two bridges that would help secure the flank of Operation Overlord.
Stephen Ambrose makes a good case that had these men failed, the German panzers may have had the opportunity to crush first the British 6th Airborne Division and then roll up the invasion beaches. We'll never know, because these men did not fail. Silently landing within yards of their target, they quickly secured the Caen Canal Bridge and an adjacent span fifty yards away over the Orne River. Both had been wired for demolition and were guarded (although not by boys from the Fatherland but forced conscripts from occupied Eastern Europe the Germans had rounded up to fill their need for men). Howard's men literally stole the bridges in a manner of minutes with minimal fighting. They then established a perimiter to beat off any German counter-attack until they could be relieved by paratroopers who dropped shortly after D Company pulled off their coup de main. While waiting for relief, they faced a tank counter-attack. Holding only one Piat, a hand held anti-tank weapon that was not held in high regard by the troops, a sergeant nailed the lead tank at a distance of forty yards. This persuaded the rest of the German column to retreat and wait -- thinking that Howard's men possessed larger anti-tank weapons. Thus less than two hundred glider borne air troopers were able to attack, take and hold two critical bridges -- and right under the nose of a nearby enemy tank regiment.
This is a delightful book that moves along at Ambrose's usual fast pace. He fills it with first hand accounts from British, German and French participants -- luckily many of the principals were alive when he wrote the book which gives it an unparralled directness and detail. Ambrose goes into the personalities of the principals and discusses the training and planning that went into making D Company a premeir fighting outfit. Capt. Howard deserves much of the credit for sharpening his unit into what must have been one of the most effective small units in the war. Over a period of almost two years, he put them through his own designed training regimen that earned for them the mission.
This is a short book at less than two hundred pages (and oddly shaped -- I've never read a book as tall and skinny and am curious as to why it was published in these dimensions). Perfect if one has the hours to dive into and finish a good war story in one sitting.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not Quite All The Way Across
Comment: Stephen Ambrose is one of those authors that I would give anything he wrote a chance. In the past I have not been disappointed with his work. That positive track record came to an end with this book. To be fair this book was written a number of years ago and before his best World War 2 works - D-Day and Citizen Soldiers. This book also covers an event that was performed by UK soldiers and the author's real strength has been with American forces. With those two books in my mind I grabbed this book hoping for the same detailed account of this particular event.
Unfortunately for me the detail level was just not there. He briefly touched on the training and lead up to the event but not in the kind of detail that would really give me some insight into the men. He covered the assault on the bridge, but his coverage of the importance of the bridge to the overall D-Day effort and the German response was a bit lacking. And finally he also touched on what happened to the group for the rest of the war but in such a general way that it left me wanting more and frustrated at the extremely brief overview. I do not want to come off too harsh, overall this is an interesting and easy to read book that gives the reader a better then average coverage of the event. I was just thinking it would be better based on the author's track record.
Rating: 2
Summary: too little, too late
Comment: At last Ambrose begins to tackle the massive british contribution to victory. but it is a disappointingly short and skimpy look.
Ambrose (and one notes, some US reviewers below)manages to recognise the vitory at the bridge, but understates the non US contribution overall. remember, approx 50% of all forces in Normandy were UK/Canadian - and far from failing, as one reviewer below has it, they held, and ground down, the bulk of the German forces in Normandy, enabling US forces to break out against weak opposition.
 |
Title: D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 068480137X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: CITIZEN SOLDIERS : THE U S ARMY FROM THE NORMANDY BEACHES TO THE BULGE TO THE SURRENDER OF GERMANY by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 0684848015 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 24 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 0743216458 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 06 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Currahee! : A Screaming Eagle at Normandy by Donald R. Burgett ISBN: 0440236304 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: The VICTORS : Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 0684856298 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 28 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
