Normandy Crucible

A military intelligence expert examines the most formative battle of World War II.
The Battle of Normandy was the greatest offensive campaign the world had ever seen. Millions of soldiers battling for control of Europe were thrust onto the front lines of a massive war unlike any experienced in history. But the greatest of clashes would prove to be the crucible in which the outcome of World War II would be decided.
Author John Prados tells the story of how and why the tactics and battle plans of Normandy proved so formative, and reconstructs the climactic Allied Normandy breakout from both sides of the battle lines.

Dr. John Prados was a Senior Research Fellow on national security, including foreign affairs, intelligence, and military subjects, at the National Security Archive. He directed the Archive's Iraq Documentation Project, as well as its Vietnam Project. He held a Ph.D. in International Relations from Columbia University. His books Unwinnable War, Keepers of the Keys (on the National Security Council) and Combined Fleet Decoded (on intelligence in the Pacific in World War II) were each nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He published articles with Vanity Fair, The Journal of American History, Scientific American, MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe.