BookwormBy John Andrews
By the time you read this, the commemorations to mark the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings by allied forces on 6th June 1944 will be over.
My wife and I, however, were fortunate enough to join a group of Bucks worthies, together with our own guide, on the 8th June for a four day tour of this delightful part of Normandy.
It is not until one stands on Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches that the enormity of the invasion sinks in. As a preparation for the trip, I read several books dealing with the event and the lead up to the invasion, and found that Stephen E. Ambrose in his excellent best seller, Band of Brothers, captures perhaps best the flavour of the long night, dawn landing and the fighting all the way through France and Holland and eventually down to the capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgarten.
Published by Pocket Books in paperback, this is not a long book and no definitive history, merely 303 pages, and features the men of Easy Company, a crack rifle company in the US Army, from their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the dangerous parachute landings on D-Day and their hard fought engagements through Europe.
What I liked about Band of Brothers was its concentration on one outstanding light infantry company and the personalities and actions of the men in some of the most challenging situations possible.
Berchtesgarten was of course a magnet for the troops of all the allied armies in southern Germany, Austria and northern Italy. South of Salzburg, the Bavarian mountain town of Berchtesgarten was Valhalla for the Nazi gods, lords and masters and Hitler had a home there and a mountaintop retreat at 8,000ft. It was to Berchtesgarten that the highest ranking Nazis flocked to be near their Fuhrer and to stash away their loot collected from European victories. The place was stuffed with gold, art treasures and some of the best and most highly regarded French wines, spirits and champagnes. Easy Company got there first!
I commend this book to all of us who have not had to face an all-out war and who believe in the freedom that has been won at such great cost.