I'd love to give this novel 5 stars, but I feel I should leave some room for better books to come. I only have two complaints. First, Shaara went into great detail of the planning and preparation of the D-Day invasion, unfortunately he didn't choose to spend much time on the actual beach landings. Secondly, no fault of Shaara's, but due to Pattons uninvolvement of the D-Day invasion, his presence was missed in this story until the very end. I suppose that makes me want to read the 3rd book that much more.

From reading (and watching) Ambrose's Band of Brothers, I am somewhat aware of the 101st airborne's heroics. Similarly, The Steel Wave highlights what the 82nd airborne achieved further to the west.

Lastly, the book did a wonderful job of telling the story of Erwin Rommel. Unfortunately his lot in life was to be a terrific General underneath a delusional leader.