D-Day, 65 Years Later

Today is the 65th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy Beach in France, a turning point in World War II. The successful allied invasion did not come without huge costs: the Allies suffered 215,000 casualties on D-Day and the Normandy campaign which followed (9000 on D-Day alone), though exact numbers are impossible to figure out.

Anyone interested in reading more about D-Day and the Normandy campaign should check out John C. McManus' The Americans at D-Day: The American Experience at the Normandy Invasion and The Americans at Normandy: The Summer of 1944--The American War from the Normandy Beaches to Falaise. McManus is an associate professor of history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology and a prolific writer on American military history. McManus appeared this morning on C-SPAN's Washington Journal to discuss D-Day.

Full disclosure: Professor McManus and I are close personal friends but he did not ask me to plug his books. The guy is a true expert--move over Stephen Ambrose.