Book Review: The Dead and Those About to Die: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach by John C. McManus
(Four Stars)
“Only two kinds of people are going to be on this beach, the dead and those who are going to die. Now get moving!” Col. George Taylor, lead assault regiment commander
D-Day up close and personal. A significant addition to the record of the sacrifice made by thousands of Americans to free Europe from the tyranny of Adolph Hitler. Closely researched and described to put the reader right among the soldiers dying in the water, on the sand, and on the slopes of Fortress Europa.
“All the beauty of the world was gone. Nothing mattered now except this brutal moment, and survival.”
The only way to make sense out of the senseless mess that the invasion became was to follow individuals through it. That’s what McManus does. And well. Unfortunately, there are too many people and too many stories for the reader to follow his many, necessary changes of focus.
“Men all around, falling–some out of breath, some out of life.”
In fact, the thread of narrative is soon lost in the tangle of mind-numbing repetition and details. Every fact about every person does not need to be included, and even if it does, it need not be repeated.
“The plan for Operation NEPTUNE was a good one but it didn’t work! It was the individual courage and heroism of the American soldier that won the Beaches EAST RED and FOX GREEN on 6 June 1944.” Major Carl Pitt, operations officer of the 16thg Infantry Regiment
As a Matter of Fancy 