Book Review: D-Day Through German Eyes

Over the past 10 months, I have been reading various stories about the men from the Band of Brothers series. With D DAY Through German Eyes – The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944 by Holger Eckhertz, I had an opportunity to see the Normandy invasion from a different perspective. It is a perspective that is not often shared. This was quite a fascinating glimpse into another part of that history.

This is actually a combination of two books. In the books, Eckhertz interviews soldiers of different units who were defending against the Normandy invasion. Some of these soldiers sat in bunkers overlooking the sea, others were pilots who were there to repel the invaders, and still, others were part of response forces that sat behind the seawall.

Through these interviews, Eckhertz captured a number of different perspectives. He asked these individuals what they thought about being posted in this area. He wanted to know if they thought they were going to be invaded. What it was like to live among the French? What actions did they take when the invasion began.

Eckhertz also inquired about the technology that they used. For example, how were the seawalls created as well as the other lines of defense? He asked the soldiers whether they thought the defenses were adequate or not. Based on the descriptions, it is fortunate that some of the weapons did not come into play because they sounded very devastating. One, in particular, is an aerosol gas that sprayed over the battlefield and then ignited. Had the Germans used it, the results would have been devastating for all in the area.

Many of the soldiers that were stationed on this Western front did not believe that an invasion was possible. They were totally surprised by the weaponry that the British, Canadians, and Americans brought to bear. Many of them talked about the American tanks that could float. One thing that surprised me was the amazement expressed by the Germans regarding the lack of horses brought into battle by the Americans. They saw the Americans as having a neverending supply system. If something broke, the Americans just discarded it and got a new one. This was not something that was known in the German army.

Eckhertz was able to capture what the Germans thought once their portion of the war was done—once they were captured. They were amazed by the ferociousness that the Allied soldiers brought to the fight. They could not understand this because the Germans thought that these soldiers were fighting their own kind and would be treated with some leniency. But then they were very surprised by how they were treated after they were captured. There was a number of Russian and Polish soldiers who were also stationed on the Western Front. These individuals seemed to disappear after they were captured. After reading the book, there seem to be some indications that the Russians were handed over to the Russian government and executed. I would like to find out more about that.

If you are at all interested in World War II history, definitely read this book. D DAY Through German Eyes gives you a glimpse of the war that is not often seen through the history books that are commonly available.

Additional Reading

• Book Review: Shifty’s War: The Authorized Biography of Sergeant Darrell “Shifty” Powers, the Legendary Sharpshooter from the Band of Brothers
• Book Review: Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant from World War II’s “Band of Brothers”
• Book Review: Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story
• Book Review: Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters
• Book Review: Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest
• Book Review: Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After the Band of Brothers
• Book Review: A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories About the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us
• Book Review: Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper’s Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
• Book Review: Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers

Image from http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/files/2016/07/5.-CherbourgBunker.jpg

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