"Every one of the infantry divisions in France in 1944 relied first and foremost on the horse for transport. The horse pulled field guns, ammunition wagons, anti-tank guns; horse-drawn vehicles in Normandy outnumbered their powered counterparts two to one in the summer of 1944. The poorest divisions in France that year even lacked horses." That they were relying so much on horses, against the machines of the Allied forces, was just one of many eye-openers in this book. As even the Allied forces at the time understood, the outcome might have been very different if Germany had been adequately prepared for the invasion, instead of facing it after being weakened through years of war.

Like other books that deal with the bloody, gritty reality of war, this is a book I wish would be "mandatory reading" for politicians. This book, in particular, should be read by anybody who fails to grasp how awful war is, or dismisses the vital role of air superiority, or ignores the risks of demanding that military forces do more than they are equipped (literally and figuratively) to do.

It takes me a long time to get through books these days because of limited reading time, but this is one where I constantly felt the pull to set aside more time to continue reading. I definitely recommend it, but be prepared to learn, from the losing side's perspective, what all-out war looks like.