Summary of Max Hastings's Overlord

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The United States, which might have chosen to view the war in Europe as a distraction from the struggle against Japan, was instead persuaded to commit its greatest strength in the west. #2 The outcome of the Second World War was never in doubt. But great delays and difficulties lay ahead in mobilizing America’s industrial might for the battlefield, and in determining by what strategy the Axis was to be crushed. #3 The American government was initially afraid of a rapid Russian collapse, so they agreed to launch ROUNDUP with 48 Allied divisions in April 1943. But the British continued to fight to divert resources towards more modest objectives. In the summer of 1942, the Americans reluctantly agreed to launch GYMNAST, an operation for the invasion of French North Africa. #4 The American Chiefs of Staff returned to Washington irritably conscious that they had been persuaded to adopt a course they did not favor. The British had at least acknowledged that north-west Europe must be invaded in 1944.