Sword: D-Day Trial by Battle
Sunday 5 October 
Bridge House Theatre
3.00pm
Celebrated author and historian Max Hastings returns to Warwick to launch his latest blockbuster history.
By 6 June 1944, the Second World War had already lasted almost five years. Yet many of the British and American troops who landed in Normandy on D-Day had never been in battle. Within hours of leaving England, faced with a storm of machine-gun and mortar fire, they witnessed scenes, above all of sudden death, such as no exercise could have prepared them for.
Max explores with extraordinary vividness the actions of the Commando brigade, Montgomery’s 3rd Infantry and the 6th Airborne divisions on and around a single British beach, codenamed Sword. He describes their frustrations, hopes, loves and fears through the years spent training and preparing in England, then their triumphs and tragedies on Sword beach and beyond.
Tickets £20.00
History Festival at a Glance
Sunday 28 September
Monday 29 September
Tuesday 30 September
Wednesday 1 October
Thursday 2 October
Friday 3 October
Saturday 4 October
Sunday 5 October
Warwick University Talks
| Dave Steele | Rev Arthur Wade: Radical Vicar of Warwick | Saturday 4 October |
| Guido van Meersbergen | The Making of an Imperial Icon: Richard Hakluyt and the Commemorative Culture of Empire  |
Saturday 11 October |
| Henry Clements and Katayoun Shafiee | The Middle East in Context: Energy, Palestine and the Historical Present  |
Saturday 11 October |
| Susan L. Carruthers | Demob Fashion: Out of Uniform and Into Civvies | Saturday 11 October |
Saturday 15 November
Friday 21 November