Beach warriors

SAUL DAVID is enthralled by a detailed account of the Allied assault on Sword beach during the pivotal landings of June 1944

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In the early hours of 6 June 1944, 35,000 British soldiers - most new to combat - played a critical role on D-Day.

During that key battle fought by the western Allies, they landed at Sword, easternmost of the five Normandy landing beaches, and in the adjoining airborne perimeter. It is a story Max Hastings has told before, in Overlord (1984), but never in such enthralling detail, nor with such granular attention to the 'little people' who fought and died that day.

These were chiefly members of the novice 6th Airborne and 3rd Infantry Divisions, stiffened by Commandos whose own battlefield experience was limited to coastal raiding. Eager to do their bit - particularly the Paras and Glider troops - they were "precipitated direct from Britain, where they had spent four years playing at battle, headlong into its most hellish circumstances". Small wonder that the 'teeth' infantry, in particular, did not always display the aggression and tactical skill needed to achieve their wildly optimistic first-day objective: the capture of Caen, 9 miles inland.