'Max Hastings stands in the first rank of writers on modern war' – Financial TimesOn 6 June 1944 – D-Day – British, Canadian and American troops staged the greatest amphibious landing in history.

It was the start of Operation Overlord, the battle to take Normandy from the Third Reich. Over ten gruelling weeks, the Allies fought the entrenched German army, some infantry units suffering an almost 100 per cent casualty rate. In Overlord, acclaimed historian Max Hastings has drawn on eyewitness accounts of survivors from both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped World War 2 sources and documents, to write a gripping and authoritative account of the devastating fighting that paved the way for the liberation of north-west Europe.

'A book which combines serious historical and critical comment with brilliant reportage. He brings both the arguments between higher commanders and the fighting on the battlefield itself to life' – Times Literary Supplement