From the Publisher

A true story, that you can't put down

The largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare...

An officer and his men waiting feverishly for it to beginn...

A tragedy from which there was no escape...

The author

Hans Hoeller was born in 1921, in Pottschach, Austria. He served as a tank hunter at Tobruk, Halfaya Pass, Tunisia, Normandy (e.g. Pegasus Bridge, Caen), Falaise and in Eastern France. He was awarded the Iron Cross Class I and II for his actions. Wounded twice, he survived the war and wrote his memoirs, originally published under the title "Unter Rommels Kommando".

After the war, Hans Hoeller became an engineer and had a successful business career. He used to visit his former areas of deployment many times. In 2014, he had the honor of participating in a commemoration ceremony of British Paratrooperson the grounds of the Merville Gun Battery, Normandy.

(Pic: Hans Hoeller in April, 2022)

The book

Hans Hoeller wrote his World War II memoirs to come to terms with that time. To give a name to all those soldiers who had died next to him, under his command, or even because of his actions. To deliver to posterity how it came that a generation of young Germans vigorously plunged themselves into ruin, even cheering for each other in free fall until finally, facing gravity, they hit the ground and got torn apart without remorse.

He hopes that this time remains in the past alone. And he wishes for a world in which we are allowed to maintain the memorials of war in reverence, without ever having to build new ones.

(Pic: Lt. Hans Hoeller, Benouville, June 7, 1944)