Bringing together essays on key aspects of the Normandy campaign from leading names in military history, this book re-examines the crucial issues and debates of the D-Day campaign. Although it was the most important campaign fought by the Western Allies in World War II and was pivotal in determining the outcome of the war, there remains much to debate about D-Day. This volume tackles a range of core topics, placing them in their current historiographical context, to present new and sometimes revisionist interpretations of key issues. How effective was the deception plan used against the Germans? Can it be said that the German army was superior to the American, British and Canadian forces? Why did the allied armies become bogged down for two months and was the stalemate a product of poor allied operational technique or German tactical flair? How have we come to see or interpret the Normandy campaign through the media of cinema and TV? As World War II is increasingly becoming a field of revisionism, this book sits squarely within growing debates and brings current thinking from leading military and strategic historians to a wider audience. -- From the publisher account.

Introduction /John Buckley -- The 21st Army Group in Normandy: Towards a new balance sheet / Terry Copp -- The German perspective / Mungo Melvin -- The German commanders on D-Day / Marc Hansen -- Culture, controversy, Caen and Cherbourg: The first week of the battle / Stephen Badsey -- American tactical innovation in Normandy 1944 / Nigel de Lee -- British armoured operations in Normandy, June-August 1944 / John Buckley -- Operation BLUECOAT -- A victory ignored? / Ian Daglish -- 'The Black Day Unrealised': Operation TOTALIZE and the problems of translating tactical success into a decisive breakout / Stephen A. Hart -- Dead cows and Tigers: Some aspects of the experience of the British soldier in Normandy 1944 / Gary Sheffield -- The Luftwaffe in Normandy / James S. Corum -- Arthur Tedder and the Transportation Plans / Vincent Orange -- Caen: The Martyred City / Peter Gray / Deception and the Planning of D-Day / Kathryn Barbier -- Intelligence and OVERLORD: A snapshot from 6 June 1944 / John Ferris -- Reconstructing D-Day: The sixth of June 1944 and British documentary films / Michael Paris -- D-Day in Hollywood motion pictures: A brief history of changing perceptions of war / Carsten Hennig.