I'm finishing off a 300-page book on the German defeat in Normandy 1944, based on many unpublished or untranslated accounts.
Am I wasting my time or is it something people will be interested in?
Maybe should have asked that last autumn when I started writing it!
It's actually a spin-off of a much larger work, a four volume history of the Wehrmacht in the Third Reich. Any suggestions for publishers for either in the UK?
German defeat in Normandy 1944
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Richard Hargreaves
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Re: German defeat in Normandy 1944
For me it sounds very interesting.halder wrote:I'm finishing off a 300-page book on the German defeat in Normandy 1944, based on many unpublished or untranslated accounts.
Am I wasting my time or is it something people will be interested in?
Maybe should have asked that last autumn when I started writing it!
It's actually a spin-off of a much larger work, a four volume history of the Wehrmacht in the Third Reich. Any suggestions for publishers for either in the UK?
Is it any special battle, units etc you´re writing about?
:)
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derGespenst
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It depends largely on what you can add to what's already been written. Do your unpublished and untranslated sources add a new dimension to our understanding of the battle? Do they illuminate areas that have been passed over in the past? Do they show a different slant on things?
Personally, I can gladly read a dozen books about the same event as long as each adds something new to my knowledge or causes me to think about it in a different way.
Personally, I can gladly read a dozen books about the same event as long as each adds something new to my knowledge or causes me to think about it in a different way.
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Richard Hargreaves
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Re: units - all of them, although the focus is on the SS panzer and panzer grenadiers as the documentary and published sources for these seem to be most numerous.
The last overall account of the campaign from the German side available in English is Paul Carell's book which is 40 years old and seriously flawed - unless anyone knows differently.
As for sources unpublished/untranslated, here are a few
KTB OKW
KTB PzGp West + Appendices
KTB OB West + Appendices
KTB AGp.B
Ewald Klapdor's excellent Entscheidung 1944
Histories of the Hohenstaufen, Gotz von Berlichingen and Frundsberg, and the Luftwaffe in the West
Rommel's papers / various miscellaneous documents at the IWM in London
A string of PRO files at Kew based on captured German documents
CSDIC transcripts of secret recordings of captured German generals
ETHINT and US MS files from interviews with captured German generals
Volkischer Beobachter
Das Reich
That lot's from memory! There's more but I just cannot remember at the moment...
The last overall account of the campaign from the German side available in English is Paul Carell's book which is 40 years old and seriously flawed - unless anyone knows differently.
As for sources unpublished/untranslated, here are a few
KTB OKW
KTB PzGp West + Appendices
KTB OB West + Appendices
KTB AGp.B
Ewald Klapdor's excellent Entscheidung 1944
Histories of the Hohenstaufen, Gotz von Berlichingen and Frundsberg, and the Luftwaffe in the West
Rommel's papers / various miscellaneous documents at the IWM in London
A string of PRO files at Kew based on captured German documents
CSDIC transcripts of secret recordings of captured German generals
ETHINT and US MS files from interviews with captured German generals
Volkischer Beobachter
Das Reich
That lot's from memory! There's more but I just cannot remember at the moment...
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sid guttridge
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Hi Halder,
I think your timing may be right. Next year is the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. Publishers like anniversaries as it helps marketing.
As already mentioned, from the military history point of view the important factor is whether you have something new of substance to add to the existing debate. If Carel's really is the last German viewpoint book on Normandy then you could well have quite a lot new to contribute.
Finally, so much is published nowadays from rehashed secondary sources that anyone who has gone to the trouble of digging out primary material, as you have, deserves success.
Good Luck.
Sid.
I think your timing may be right. Next year is the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. Publishers like anniversaries as it helps marketing.
As already mentioned, from the military history point of view the important factor is whether you have something new of substance to add to the existing debate. If Carel's really is the last German viewpoint book on Normandy then you could well have quite a lot new to contribute.
Finally, so much is published nowadays from rehashed secondary sources that anyone who has gone to the trouble of digging out primary material, as you have, deserves success.
Good Luck.
Sid.
Normandy 44 by Zetterling is a very accurate account of what happened to the germans overall in normandy in several specific areas. But doesn´t give a day by day account of the battle or much info and anylsis of the allies. It also doesn't extend much beyond normandy for either side.
I think you should have an easy time finding a publisher esp becasue you have worked to find more info and the 60th anivery is next year. Also thier appears to be more interest in things military as of late.
I think you should have an easy time finding a publisher esp becasue you have worked to find more info and the 60th anivery is next year. Also thier appears to be more interest in things military as of late.
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Richard Hargreaves
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Thanks all
Do I have anything new to contribute? Hmm, interesting one. I think the conclusions on the Normandy defeat were drawn a long time ago, and probably will not change. I think Goebbels' diaries are extremely useful - they show far more than before how much Hitler was convinced the Allies would be beaten on D-Day.
But I think the patchwork of the battle, the number of accounts, is getting richer so that, at the very least, we have a better understanding of the ordinary landser's view. If I can add anything, I hope it is that - the hell of Normandy, because the more I've researched, the more I've realised that at times Normandy was every bit as grim as the Eastern Front.
As for Zetterling's book, it's an indispensable source, but you cannot really read it. By comparison, my book is popular history.
By the way, if anyone wants the source notes (translations etc) they will be deposited at the IWM and also the D-Day museum in Portsmouth in due course.
Do I have anything new to contribute? Hmm, interesting one. I think the conclusions on the Normandy defeat were drawn a long time ago, and probably will not change. I think Goebbels' diaries are extremely useful - they show far more than before how much Hitler was convinced the Allies would be beaten on D-Day.
But I think the patchwork of the battle, the number of accounts, is getting richer so that, at the very least, we have a better understanding of the ordinary landser's view. If I can add anything, I hope it is that - the hell of Normandy, because the more I've researched, the more I've realised that at times Normandy was every bit as grim as the Eastern Front.
As for Zetterling's book, it's an indispensable source, but you cannot really read it. By comparison, my book is popular history.
By the way, if anyone wants the source notes (translations etc) they will be deposited at the IWM and also the D-Day museum in Portsmouth in due course.
That's great news halder.
This is really what was missing on the market, there are plenty of divisional histories of the units taking part in the campaign but none which would cover the whole campaign; Carell's book is really poor while Klapdor's covers, besides the strategic decisions, mainly II.SS-Pz.Korps and was published in limited editions. Coupled with various KTBs and accounts from key figures should make this a really great book. I wish you all the best luck with publishing it and hope to have it soon on my bookshelf.
Best Regards
Marko
This is really what was missing on the market, there are plenty of divisional histories of the units taking part in the campaign but none which would cover the whole campaign; Carell's book is really poor while Klapdor's covers, besides the strategic decisions, mainly II.SS-Pz.Korps and was published in limited editions. Coupled with various KTBs and accounts from key figures should make this a really great book. I wish you all the best luck with publishing it and hope to have it soon on my bookshelf.
Best Regards
Marko