Heinrich Severloh, in his moving autobiographical account, recounts the biggest amphibious attack in the whole of history, by the Allies, on D-Day, 6th June 1944, launching their offensive against the Atlantic Wall at dawn towards the Normandy coast with 7,000 vessels and 13,000 planes. Severloh stood at his combat post, at support point WN 62 (Widerstandsnest 62). At 0900 hours, he fired his machine gun and his grenade towards the GIs who were struggling towards him across the beach - more than 2,000 of them would never reach their destination. In a ruthless and gripping manner, Severloh describes these dramatic hours during the course of which, in his sector, nicknamed "Bloody Omaha", 34,000 GI's would hurl themselves against only 350 German soldiers who defended their position with relentless tenacity. Severloh survived this deluge of fire in these stressful and epic circumstances, which would leave their mark for the rest of his life. Newspaper articles and newsreels have immortalised him under the name Hein Severloh. Up until the appearance of this sad confession, the Americans didn't know the name of the man who made their attack such a terrible catastrophe. In collaboration with Helmut, Baron von Keusgen, military history specialist, this is not just a fascinating document of great precision in the description of these places, but it is equally a new point of view which had been unexplored, making the events of this dramatic day all the clearer. The relations between the Germans and the French are the same, envisaged in a different light. In a deeply moving way, Severloh speaks clearly about his experiences and makes a clean slate of prejudices. Text in French
