D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy, 1944 [The Young Readers Adaptation]

by Rick Atkinson

Overview

Adapted for young readers from the #1 New York Times–bestselling The Guns at Last Light, D-Day captures the events and the spirit of that day—June 6, 1944—the day that led to the liberation of western Europe from Nazi Germany's control. They came by sea and by sky to reclaim freedom from the occupying Germans, turning the tide of World War II. Atkinson skillfully guides his younger audience through the events leading up to, and of, the momentous day in this photo-illustrated adaptation. Perfect for history buffs and newcomers to the topic alike!

This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781627791120
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	05/06/2014
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	542,134
Lexile:	NC1290L (what's this?)
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Rick Atkinson is the bestselling author of An Army at Dawn (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for history), The Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light, among others. His many other awards include a Pulitzer Prize for journalism, the George Polk Award, and the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. A former staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post, he lives in Washington, D.C.
Rick Atkinson is the bestselling author of the Liberation Trilogy—An Army at Dawn (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History), The Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light—as well as The Long Gray Line and other books. His many additional awards include a Pulitzer Prize in journalism, a George Polk Award, and the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. A former staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post, he lives in Washington, D.C.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

ALLIED COUNTRIES AND CHAIN OF COMMAND ON JUNE 6, 1944 — PARTIAL LIST

BELGIUM

• KING LEOPOLD III

• HUBERT PIERLOT, Prime Minister

• GENERAL VICTOR VAN STRYDONCK DE BURKEL, Commander of the Belgian forces in Great Britain and Chief of the Belgian Military Mission to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF)

BRITISH EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH

• KING GEORGE VI, King of the United Kingdom and Dominions of the British Commonwealth

AUSTRALIA

• JOHN CURTAIN, Prime Minister

• SIR THOMAS BLAMEY, (Field Marshal) Commander in Chief of the Australian military forces

CANADA

• WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE KING, Prime Minister

• HARRY CRERAR, General and de facto commander of the Canadian military

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

• WINSTON CHURCHILL, Prime Minister

• ANDREW CUNNINGHAM, First Sea Lord, head of the Royal Navy

• CHARLES PORTAL, Chief of the Air Staff, head of the Royal Air Force

• BERNARD MONTGOMERY, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Field Marshal in command of the 21st Army Group and all Allied ground forces during Operation OVERLORD

• HUGH DOWDING, 1st Baron Dowding, Air Chief Marshal RAF Fighter Command

REPUBLIC OF CHINA

• CHIANG KAI-SHEK, leader of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China and Supreme Commander of the Chinese theater

FREE FRENCH FORCES

• CHARLES DE GAULLE, leader of the Free French, head of the French government in exile, and head of the French Army of Liberation

• MAJOR GENERAL JACQUES-PHILIPPE LECLERC, in command of Free French forces in France

POLISH GOVERNMENT IN EXILE

• WLADYSLAW RACZKIEWICZ, President of the Polish government in exile

• STANISLAW MIKOLAJCZYK, Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile

• KAZIMIERZ SOSNKOWSKI, Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces

SOVIET UNION

• JOSEPH STALIN, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Premier of the Soviet Union

• GEORGY ZHUKOV, Field Marshal

• NIKOLAY GERASIMOVICH KUZNETSOV, Admiral of the Soviet Navy

• VYACHESLAV MOLOTOV, Foreign Minister

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

• FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, President

• GEORGE MARSHALL, General and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army

• HENRY H. ARNOLD, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces

• ERNEST KING, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet, Chief of Naval Operations, and Fleet Admiral

• HENRY L. STIMSON, Secretary of War

EUROPEAN FRONT

• DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe

• OMAR N. BRADLEY, General of the U.S. Army

• JACOB L. DEVERS, Commander of the 6th Army Group in Europe

• CARL ANDREW SPAATZ, Commander of the Air Forces Combat Command

• ROYAL E. INGERSOLL, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet

CHAPTER 2

AXIS COUNTRIES AND CHAIN OF COMMAND ON JUNE 6, 1944 — PARTIAL LIST

THE THIRD REICH (NAZI GERMANY)

• ADOLF HITLER, Führer

• HEINRICH HIMMLER, Supreme Commander of the Home Army

• HERMANN GÖRING, Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe, Reichsmarschall of the Greater German Reich

• ALBERT SPEER, German Minister of Armaments

• WILHELM KEITEL, General and Chief of the High Command of the German military

• GERD VON RUNDSTEDT, Field Marshal of the German Army

• ERWIN ROMMEL, in command of the German forces during the Battle of Normandy

EMPIRE OF JAPAN

• HIROHITO, Emperor, Commander of the Imperial General Headquarters

• HIDEKI TOJO, Prime Minister

• MITSUMASA YONAI, Minister of the Imperial Japanese Navy

• OSAMI NAGANO, Chief of Staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy

• TOMOYUKI YAMASHITA, Lieutenant General of the Imperial Japanese Army

ITALIAN SOCIAL REPUBLIC

• BENITO MUSSOLINI, Head of State

• RODOLFO GRAZIANI, Minister of Defense

• GIOVANNI MESSE, Commander of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia

1939

MAY 22

Adolf Hitler of Germany signs a treaty with Italy's Benito Mussolini

AUGUST 23

Joseph Stalin of Russia and Adolf Hitler sign a pact vowing not to invade each other's countries

SEPTEMBER 1

Germany invades Poland

SEPTEMBER 3

Britain and France declare war on Germany

SEPTEMBER 10

The Parliament of Canada declares war on Germany

DECEMBER 18

First Canadian troops arrive in Europe

1940

MAY 9

Germany invades Denmark and Norway

MAY 10

Germany invades Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg

MAY 15

Holland surrenders

JUNE 10

Italy declares war on Britain and France

JUNE 14

Germany invades Paris, and France surrenders to the Nazis

JUNE 28

Charles de Gaulle is recognized as the leader of the Free French Forces, French troops who had escaped to Britain after the Nazis occupied France

JULY 10

The Battle of Britain between the RAF and the Luftwaffe begins in the skies over England

SEPTEMBER 7

The German Blitz against London begins

SEPTEMBER 13

Italian forces invade Egypt

SEPTEMBER 17

Hitler postpones invasion of Britain after losing air battle

OCTOBER 7

German troops enter Romania

OCTOBER 28

Italy invades Greece

1941

APRIL 27

German troops occupy Athens

JUNE 1

The Nazi SS begin mass murder of Jews in eastern Poland

JUNE 22

Germans launch massive invasion of the Soviet Union

DECEMBER 7

The Japanese attack the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

DECEMBER 8

The U.S. Congress declares war on Japan

DECEMBER 11

Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S. The U.S. Congress declares war on Germany and Italy

1942

JANUARY 26

U.S. troops arrive in Europe

FEBRUARY 15

The British surrender to Japanese forces in Singapore

APRIL 1

Internment of U.S. Japanese-American citizens begins

JUNE 4–7

The U.S. wins decisive Battle of Midway, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers

JULY 6

Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in Amsterdam

AUGUST

Germany attacks the Russian city of Stalingrad

NOVEMBER 8

The U.S. invasion of North Africa begins

1943

JANUARY 10

Soviets begin offensive against Germans in Stalingrad

JANUARY 23

U.S. troops take Tripoli (now Libya)

FEBRUARY 1

Germans surrender to Soviet forces in Stalingrad

MAY

Allied troops defeat the Germans in North Africa

JULY 5

Germans launch the largest tank battle in history at Kursk, Russia

JULY 9

Allied invasion of Sicily, an island off Italy, begins

JULY 25

Benito Mussolini is arrested, ending the Fascist regime in Italy

SEPTEMBER 8

Italy surrenders to the Allies; Hitler rushes troops to Italy

OCTOBER 13

Italy declares war on Germany

NOVEMBER 1

U.S. Marines land on the Japanese-occupied Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean

NOVEMBER 28

Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Yalta in Crimea to plan the final assault on and occupation of Germany

DECEMBER 1

Erwin Rommel becomes commander in chief of the German forces responsible for the defense of the Normandy coast

1944

JANUARY 17

Allies launch first attack against Germans in Italy

JANUARY 27

Soviet forces break the German 900-day siege of Leningrad, Russia, during which more than one million civilians died of starvation

FEBRUARY 20–25

German aircraft factories are bombed by U.S. and British air forces

MARCH 15

Germans launch offensive against India

APRIL 28

German E-boats attack Allied forces training for D-Day at Slapton Sands, England, killing nearly 700

JUNE 4

Allies liberate Rome, Italy, the first Axis capital to be freed when Canadians break the Hitler line south of the city

JUNE 6

D-Day

JULY 18

U.S. troops capture St.-Lô, France

JULY 21

U.S. Marines land on Japanese-occupied Guam in the Mariana Islands

JULY 29

Allies take Cherbourg, France

AUGUST 4

Anne Frank and her family are arrested

AUGUST 15

Allies launch the invasion of southern France

AUGUST 25

German troops in Paris surrender to the Allies

SEPTEMBER 3

The British liberate Brussels, the capital of Belgium

SEPTEMBER 17–22

Third Canadian Infantry division liberates French ports of Boulogne and Calais

OCTOBER 20

U.S. invasion of the Philippines begins

OCTOBER 25

First Japanese kamikaze attack on a U.S. ship occurs

DECEMBER 16

The Battle of the Bulge begins

1945

JANUARY 17

Soviet troops capture Warsaw, Poland

JANUARY 25

The Battle of the Bulge ends

JANUARY 26

Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz death camp in Poland

FEBRUARY 19

U.S. Marines begin assault on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima

FEBRUARY 23

U.S. Marines raise the American flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima

MARCH 7

U.S. troops cross into Germany on the Rhine River bridge at Remagen

MARCH 26

The battle for Iwo Jima ends

APRIL 1

U.S. troops land on the Japanese island of Okinawa

APRIL 11

U.S. troops liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp

APRIL 12

President Roosevelt dies suddenly; Harry Truman is sworn in as U.S. president

APRIL 15

British troops liberate the Bergen-Belsen camp, where Anne Frank and her sister had died of typhus one month earlier

APRIL 30

Hitler commits suicide as Soviet troops approach Berlin

MAY 7

General Eisenhower accepts Germany's unconditional surrender

MAY 8

Germany surrenders to Russia

JUNE 5

Allies divide Germany into four zones

AUGUST 6

U.S. drops atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing as many as 140,000 people instantly

AUGUST 8

Soviet Union declares war on Japan

AUGUST 9

U.S. drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing more than 80,000 people instantly

AUGUST 14

Japan surrenders

SEPTEMBER 2

Japan signs formal surrender agreement

SEPTEMBER 25

The Nazi Party is declared illegal in Germany

OCTOBER 24

The United Nations is created

NOVEMBER 13

General de Gaulle is elected president of France

NOVEMBER 14

The Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes begin

A more complete time-line, with videos, can be found at the Web site of the National World War II Museum at nationalww2museum.org. Canadian forces' efforts on D-Day are described at the Canadian War Museum Web site warmuseum.ca.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "D-Day"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Rick Atkinson.
Excerpted by permission of Henry Holt and Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

TITLE PAGE,
COPYRIGHT NOTICE,
LIST OF MAPS,
Assault on Normandy, June 1944,
Final OVERLORD Plan, June 6, 1944,
MAP LEGEND,
ALLIED COUNTRIES AND CHAIN OF COMMAND,
AXIS COUNTRIES AND CHAIN OF COMMAND,
WORLD WAR II TIMELINE,
KEY PLAYERS,
A NOTE TO READERS,
THE PLAN,
THE INVASION,
EPILOGUE: THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED,
THE UNITED STATES DECLARATION OF WAR ON GERMANY,
THE FIVE GREATEST TANKS OF THE WAR,
THE LARGEST BATTLESHIPS OF THE WAR,
THE MOST EFFECTIVE BOMBERS OF THE WAR,
WEAPONS CARRIED BY U.S., U.K., CANADIAN, AND GERMAN GROUND TROOPS,
CARRIER PIGEONS,
OPERATION FORTITUDE: THE INFLATABLE ARMY,
CARING FOR THE WOUNDED,
CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT ISSUED TO A NEW GI IN 1943,
MONTHLY PAY FOR AN AMERICAN GI IN 1940,
WHAT THEY CARRIED—U.S. AIRBORNE DIVISIONS,
WHAT THEY CARRIED—U.S. GROUND ASSAULT TROOPS,
K RATIONS: FOOD ON THE GO FOR AMERICAN TROOPS,
NUMBERS TELL PART OF THE STORY,
OPERATION OVERLORD TIMELINE,
GLOSSARY,
PLACES TO VISIT,
FOR MORE INFORMATION,
BIBLIOGRAPHY,
IMAGE CREDITS,
INDEX,
COPYRIGHT,

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—This fine adaptation of Atkinson's adult The Guns at Last Light is a readable, and even suspenseful, account of the final preparations for and successful execution of the D-Day invasion. The author gives readers a comprehensive overview of the operation, using primary-source excerpts to personalize the action, from the planning of the highest commanders, to the bravery shown by individual men who went ashore on June 6, 1944. He describes the stages of the invasion, including the transport of troops, air support and airborne operations, and ground operations conducted under withering German resistance. The author separates the five Allied landing forces into individual chapters, which allows for plenty of detail and continuity of narrative about their missions, and the varying amounts of German defenses and resistance they encountered. Although a brief epilogue summarizes the remainder of the war in Western Europe and Germany's defeat, the book focuses on the invasion and the bravery and sacrifices of the men who fought. The text is supplemented by solid area and battle maps, captioned period photos, and an informative appendix with accessible data about equipment and weapons, medical care, troops and their battle gear, and general statistics about the war. This book matches the quality of Earle Rice Jr.'s Normandy (Chelsea House, 2002) but is intended for a slightly older readership, making it an excellent choice for high school World War II buffs and report writers.—Mary Mueller, Rolla Public Schools, MO

School Library Journal

At just 200 or so pages, with photos on nearly every spread, D-Day has the look of a book for young readers. But it isn't written like one. Much of the text is taken unchanged from Atkinson's adult trilogy…This high tone works well because it respects the intelligence of its audience. The best children's books are never written for readers of a specific age, anyway…I'm confident that even students battered by textbooks into believing that history is boring can still be won over. The thing is, you can't just tell kids that history is cool; you have to prove it, and Atkinson does.

The New York Times Book Review - Steve Sheinkin

Adapted from Atkinson's adult history of the latter part of WWII, The Guns at Last Light, this is a brisk, busy, gutsy look at modern warfare's most famous offensive.” —Booklist

“This fine adaptation of Atkinson's adult The Guns at Last Light is a readable, and even suspenseful, account of the final preparations for and successful execution of the D-Day invasion.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“This version of the much-admired The Guns at Last Light for younger audiences focuses on the drama and the astonishing scale of one of World War II's pivotal operations: the D-Day invasion. . . . A grand and significant tale told with dash and authority.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A magnificent book . . . Though the story may seem familiar, I found surprising detail on every page. . . . Atkinson's account of D-Day is both masterly and lyrical. . . . [He] is an absolute master of his material.” —Max Hastings, The Wall Street Journal

“A tapestry of fabulous richness and complexity . . . Atkinson is a master of what might be called ‘pointillism history,' assembling the small dots of pure color into a vivid, tumbling narrative. . . . The Liberation Trilogy is a monumental achievement . . . densely researched but supremely readable.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Breathtaking, unforgettable . . . Atkinson provides us with especially poignant descriptions in a blaze of writing and research that matches the drama and significance of the moment, all without peer in modern history. . . . This volume is a literary triumph worthy of the military triumph it explores and explains.” —The Boston Globe

From the Publisher

Atkinson has adapted his adult book THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT for young readers, and narrator Jason Culp’s authoritative tone works well for this audience. It’s no easy task to cover the events critical to the end of WWII. The story of the Normandy Invasion has an extensive cast—from Churchill to Rommel—a plethora of dramatic events transpiring in multiple countries, and astounding statistics like the 301,000 Allied vehicles gathered for the invasion and the 3,000 tons of maps. Culp assumes accents successfully and reads dramatically. Atkinson’s research is thorough, his writing suspenseful. Still, covering each event fully creates a narrative so jam-packed with details that, despite the best efforts of author and narrator, the audio is sometimes overwhelming. It may work better on the page, where pictures provide relief and chapters give more clarity. S.W. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

MAY 2014 - AudioFile

2014-03-17
This version of the much-admired The Guns at Last Light (2013) for younger audiences focuses on the drama and the astonishing scale of one of World War II's pivotal operations: the D-Day invasion. Having plainly done his research, Atkinson seats readers at secret meetings of the Allied commanders, ejects them with paratroopers over the foggy French countryside, puts them into landing craft to hear soldiers barf and exclaim, and sends them out to die bloodily on beaches wracked with enemy fire. Along the way, he also drops almost-unimaginable numbers: 301,000 Allied vehicles gathered for the invasion, 3,000 tons of maps, nearly 700 GIs killed in a single training exercise. He also provides fascinating sidelights, from the fiendishly clever disinformation campaign preceding the invasion to the contents of K-rations. For all its scope, the story is largely told from the Allied point of view, as most of the German side of the event is confined to a single chapter. Furthermore, all the rest of the war in Europe is likewise squeezed into a chapter around two lengthy congratulatory messages from (then) Gen. Eisenhower. Within its limits, a grand and historically significant tale told with dash and authority. (maps, charts, lists of major armies and figures, weaponry, personal supplies, timelines, photos) (Nonfiction. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews