Between 1941 and 1944, the British army contributed relatively little to World War II. On D-Day (June 6, 1944) that changed--35,000 British infantrymen, airmen, and special service operatives were sent headfirst into the whitest heat of war, almost overnight. Max Hastings' Sword Beach tells the story of a handful of British soldiers and their critical role in D-Day's parachute and seaborne offensive. On Sword, the codename of one of the two beaches assaulted by the British, scores of soldiers were killed by the first shots that they ever heard fired in anger. One British corporal insisted on apologizing to his enemy prisoners, and the Free French troops, 120-men strong, suffered 60 percent losses in the first days of fighting. In granular detail, Sword Beach describes a small number of men on a single day who faced the transition from make-believe battle to war at its most violent.