This sequel to D-DAY opens at 00:01 hours June 7 1944 on the Normandy Beaches & ends at 02:45 hours May 7 1945. In between comes the battles in the hedgerows of Normandy the breakout of Saint-Lo the Falaise gap Patton tearing through France the liberation of Paris the attempt to leap the Rhine in operation Market-Garden the near-miraculous German recovery the battles around Metz & in the Huertgen Forest the Battle of the Bulge the capture of the bridge at Remagen & finally the overunning of Germany. From the enlisted men & junior officers Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews & oral histories from those on both sides of the war. The experience of these citizen soldiers reveals the ordinary sufferings & hardships of war. They overcame their fear & inexperience the mistakes of their high command & their enemy to win the war.