EIBF: Antony Beevor

Antony Beevor, for those who don’t know, is a historian who writes books about the Second World War – perhaps the best-known being Stalingrad. His latest work is D Day: The Battle For Normandy, about the beach landings and the campaign that followed. His works are invariably dense with facts, and so it was in his talk, which was delivered rapidly, to the point where it was hard to keep up. Nonetheless, it was highly informative, such as when he told the audience that Allied bombing than British civilians by German bombing had killed more French civilians. Then there was the fact that the Germans had been considered so good at defensive tactics when outnumbered that NATO countries later studied their methods during the Cold War in case the Soviet Union invaded, or that death rates were higher in Normandy than in Russia. This barely touches on the information Beevor imparted. Still, the Q&A at the end was the most interesting part, especially because there was a poignant moment at the finish where a soldier who had fought in Normandy stood up to ask a question about his company, which Beevor was only too glad to answer. [Ryan Agee]