On June 6, 1944, the American and British armies staged the greatest amphibious landing history to being Operation Overlord, the battle for the liberation of Europe. Despite the Allies' absolute command of sea and air and vast firepower, it took ten weeks of fierce fighting for them to overpower the tenacious, superbly skilled German army. Now, forty years later, British war correspondent and military historian Max Hastings has drawn on many interviews and newly available documents to construct a dense, dramatic portrait of the Normady invasion that overturns the traditional legends.