The Steel Wave - Jeff Shaara [0]
CONTENTS
* * *
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
TO THE READER
LIST OF MAPS
RESEARCH SOURCES
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE
1. THE COMMANDO
2. ROMMEL
3. EISENHOWER
4. EISENHOWER
5. ROMMEL
PART TWO
6. ADAMS
7. ADAMS
8. ROMMEL
9. PATTON
10. EISENHOWER
11. EISENHOWER
12. ADAMS
13. EISENHOWER
14. EISENHOWER
15. ROMMEL
16. ADAMS
17. ADAMS
PART THREE
18. THORNE
19. THE GRENADIER
20. THORNE
21. ADAMS
22. ADAMS
23. ROMMEL
24. ADAMS
25. EISENHOWER
26. ADAMS
27. EISENHOWER
28. ADAMS
29. ROMMEL
30. ADAMS
31. EISENHOWER
32. ROMMEL
33. ADAMS
PART FOUR
34. EISENHOWER
35. ADAMS
36. ROMMEL
37. EISENHOWER
38. ROMMEL
39. ADAMS
40. EISENHOWER
41. PATTON
42. PATTON
43. ROMMEL
AFTERWORD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Excerpt from No Less Than Victory
ALSO BY JEFF SHAARA
COPYRIGHT
FOR LISA
* * *
TO THE READER
* * *
This book is the second volume of a trilogy, focusing primarily on America’s involvement in World War Two in Europe. In each book I’ve written, I’ve felt I should add the disclaimer that, no, this is not a blow-by-blow history, it is not a comprehensive collection of facts and figures. That kind of book certainly has its appeal, and professional historians are far better qualified to tackle that task than I am. This is a novel, and though I am careful to “get it right,” by definition the dialogue and inner thoughts of the characters have to be described as fiction. My research relies almost exclusively on original histories, memoirs, diaries, collections of letters, and photographs, as well as interviews with living veterans. This choice of sources reflects my attempt to get into the minds of these characters, to tell their story as they would tell it themselves. The events are true, the history accurate.
Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, Stalingrad, Hiroshima. Those names are familiar even if, often, the real story is not. But no event in the history of the Second World War has inspired more popular attention than what we call D-Day, the invasion of Normandy. Hollywood alone has offered dozens of films and countless documentaries that explore the events that we know by the date every schoolchild is taught: June 6, 1944. As I began the research for this book, I was deeply concerned that I would be telling you a story you already knew too well, but as my research progressed and I dug more deeply, my fears abated. I was surprised to find a story that spreads out with a far greater scope than what Hollywood (or your high school history textbook) typically offers us. As the characters became more familiar to me, I realized that the greatest drama here is not the event but the raw and frightening uncertainty for everyone involved. It is easy to view history in hindsight, as though it were a foregone conclusion how the war, or this particular piece of it, would turn out. But for those men whose deeds and accomplishments created this history, there were no foregone conclusions at all.
I also discovered that the story of D-Day is not merely the story of what happens on June 6. For most of us, our familiarity with the Normandy invasion comes from the few existing film clips of that one horrific day, used countless times in documentaries, dramas, and various historical features. Memoirs abound and accounts have been written from every perspective imaginable, many focusing on one awful place called Omaha Beach. Some of these accounts are familiar to any fan of John Wayne or Tom Hanks or Stephen Ambrose. But there is more to this story than one amphibious invasion across one stretch of sand. (Most Americans have heard of Omaha, and with good reason, but how many can name the other four beaches?)
Every war has its share of both glory and horror. I try not to succumb to the temptation to embellish history, to offer morality tales or lessons in hindsight. I make no snide winks toward the reader, subtle scolding that we should compare lessons learned then to lessons we should be learning today. That might make for a fine civics lecture or play into someone’s political agenda, but