The Longest Day

The Longest Day (1959), Irish journalist Cornelius Ryan’s non-fiction account of the D-Day invasion at Normandy, France, is the result of interviews Ryan conducted with more than three hundred soldiers and officers who were present at the invasion, as well as military action reports, personal diaries, and newspaper records. The book includes the perspectives of British and American troops, French Resistance members, and German troops defending the beach. In 1962, it was made into a film, co-written by Ryan and featuring many Hollywood stars.

The first part of the book, entitled “The Wait,” is about the events leading up to the invasion. It begins in the village of La Roche-Guyon, France, which is near the site of the invasion. La Roche-Guyon has a population of 543 villagers, and more than three times that many occupied soldiers. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel has taken a castle near the village as the head of German command in the area.

Prior to the invasion, the Germans have reinforced the beach in the area and their command is confident that an invasion from sea won’t be possible. However, they are well aware that an invasion is eminent and are working hard to intercept the coded transmission that will alert the French resistance the Allies are on the way. Rommel refuses to put his troops on alert until the code is broken and he has an exact date for the invasion.



Meanwhile, the Allied forces are dealing with bad weather that threatens to make crossing the English Channel impossible. Ships and planes are ready to depart, but they can’t leave until the storm clears. The Allied plan is to have paratroopers land behind the German line to flank the Germans while the main assault attacks from the water. When the Allies get word that the weather is clearing, they scramble to get the assault underway, crossing the English Channel in the middle of the night.

Rommel has not received the same information about the weather. Thinking that the storms will continue, he plans a trip to visit his wife in Germany. This is partly to see her on her birthday, and partly to meet with Hitler to discuss reinforcements. However, after he leaves, the Allies launch their assault. Rommel is several hours away when he receives the word. Ryan also discusses several other mistakes that German intelligence made leading up to this point, dismissing the movement of troops in the English Channel as a feint, and routinely misjudging the place the Allies would attempt to cross the Channel.

The paratroopers touch down first while it is still dark night. Ryan stresses the difficult landing these troops had to make, avoiding both a fortified area and a swampy region so they could touch down in relative safety. Meanwhile, the infantry troops attack five key beaches in unison. Omaha Beach is the bloodiest battle, because the Germans have artillery installed on the cliffs above the beach. However, by mid-morning, all of the beaches except Omaha are cleared and the troops are free to move inland.



The Germans’ retaliate by running bombing raids on British beaches across the channel. The German command asks for backup from Panzer tanks, but Hitler refuses to utilize them since he does not believe that the situation in Normandy is so dire. The troops heading inland relieve the paratroopers who have also been fighting since early morning.

Meanwhile, the French Resistance provides assistance where it can, via a series of encoded messages from the Allies, each of which is directed at a different resistance cell. They are responsible for sabotaging strategic targets and taking over strategic locations in advance of the Allies.

Ryan not only gives a good overview of the major events of D-Day but also fills his books with a number of first-hand accounts from subjects he interviewed. One paratrooper overshot the landing zone and his parachute became caught on a church steeple. The trooper spent the entire battle suspended high above the street with fighting taking place below. An American infantryman won $2,500 at cards the night before but promptly lost it all, for fear of using up all his luck before the invasion. He says that he spent the entirety of D-Day at the back of the line and did not fire a single shot.



The book ends in the village of La Roche-Guyon, the same place it started. The now unified Allied and French forces assault the Germans who have dug in at the casino in town and take the area. The soldiers pinned down at Omaha Beach also finally secure the area by mounting a frontal assault on the cliffs. With the beach at last cleared, the day is a resounding victory for the Allies.