''The Steel Wave: A Novel of World War II'' is a historical novel written by

Jeff Shaara Jeffrey M. Shaara (born February 21, 1952) is an American novelist and the son of Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Shaara. Biography Jeffrey Shaara was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. He graduated from F ...

about

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

. The book is the second book in a trilogy written by Shaara. The novel begins in January 1944, nearly six months before the invasion of Normandy. Nearly half of the novel deals with

General Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, and the rest of the

SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allies of World War II, Allied forces in northwest Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. US General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the ...

's attempt to prepare for

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

and

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (, ), was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of ...

's attempt to prepare for such an assault. The second half mostly deals with the first month of the invasion from the perspective of both Rommel, Eisenhower, and a composite Army Paratrooper Sergeant named Jesse Adams.

Reception

The book did very well upon its release, reaching the ''New York Times'' bestseller list soon after its release. The Reference And Users Services Association of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

recognized it as a 2009 Notable Book.

External links

Official Website

References

2008 American novels American historical novels Novels set during World War II Novels by Jeffrey Shaara Fiction set in 1944 Operation Overlord Ballantine Books books {{2000s-WWII-novel-stub