D-Day – June 6 1944
Thousands of troops storm the beaches of Normandy France to push enemy forces back to Germany. Soldiers, French Resistance forces and French civilians are all caught up in this battle, young, old, veteran soldiers and teenagers who signed up keen for action.
D is only 16 yrs old when he signs up to fight. He is now an American soldier with a secret. He was actually born in Germany – but has changed his name to Douglas Carpenter from Dietrich Kaufman. He is now, along with thousands of US soldiers, part of Operation Neptune, storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in a hailstorm of bullets. Waves of men are mowed down as they leave the flat bottomed boats, designed for beach landings. D has to find somewhere to hide….
Samira and her mother are French Algerians and part of the French Resistance. When they are separated on the night before D-Day, Samira has to find the Resistance fighters herself and is soon part of Operation Tortoise. This is a plan to slow the German advance into France. She knows that this is the only way to try and save her mother….
James – ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ is all he can think as he leaps out of a plane with his squad. Bullets strafe across the sky, and anti aircraft guns boom below. James is a young Canadian who thought protecting Canada would mean beach patrols at home. Anything other than the hell he just jumped into….
Bill, (proud to be named after William the Conqueror and knowing everything there is to know about him), is from Liverpool. Just like his father who fought in WWI, Bill is driving a tank in war. His tank is stuck in a mortar hole on the beach at Normandy, but he has a plan to fix things before he and his crew are blown to pieces like other tanks nearby. He and his buddy climb out of the tank to put Bill’s plan into action. For a moment, they meet D and other US soldiers sheltering behind his tank….
Henry is a medic, unarmed and determined to save as many lives as he can – even those who treated him terribly in the past, as he is black. He drags man after man out of range, and tends to their wounds as best he can with the tools he has….
Monique was away from home for the day when the invasion hit. Finally emerging from her hiding place in a beach hut, she looks out over the beach to see bodies scattered everywhere. She ventures towards a sick soldier and with past first aid training, applies a tourniquet to his leg wound. Also among the wounded is a woman reporter, dressed as a soldier. The two of them team up to help the wounded until….
Allies is set over 24 hours – D-Day, the first day to the end of the war. Told in multiple viewpoints from soldier and civilian alike, all are part of this fateful day. We meet and get to know D, a young US soldier with a secret, Samira, a little French Algerian girl caught up in a resistance plot, and Henry, a fearless US medic. There is Bill, a tank driver from Liverpool, and Canadian James, who just can’t believe what he signed up for. All these people are Allies, joined in a common goal to drive the enemy home and end the second world war. Excellent!
As always, this Alan Gratz novel is built from real events and fiction alike. We learn a little back story on each of the brave character threads of the novel, that often cross and connect along the way. The chaotic horror of the US troop landings on the beach is well portrayed and definitely sobering, as is the bravery of the French Resistance and other soldiers who survived the beaches.
The author’s afterword is riveting too, as some of these characters were based on real people – their death-defying courage simply jaw dropping. Allies is another fast paced, gripping story about a significant event in our history. Fans of Michael Morpurgo who are looking for war stories to step up to, will love Alan Gratz novels. For readers 10+ though, because the beach scenes are necessarily brutal.
Author – Alan Gratz
Age – 10+
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(War, Normandy, D-Day, Tanks, WWII, World War 2, Higgins Boats, French Resistance, Train tracks, Germans, Courage, Bravery, Beach, Attack, June 6 1944, Fear, Parachute, Action)