When her mother sees a woman lifting her children out the back window of a farmhouse, she rushes forward to help the woman but is captured along with the French family. This is in retaliation for the murder of a German officer, Major Vogel. In the countryside, Samira and her mother witness Nazi soldiers rounding up French farmers to be executed. The message has been broadcast in a code over BBC radio. Now Samira's mother must let the Resistance, hiding in the forest south of Villers-Bocage know that the Allied forces are set to invade France and begin the liberation of Europe. Only seven-years-old at the time, Samira and her mother fled to the countryside, working as messengers for the Resistance. Samira's father was killed in student protests against the German occupation.

Samira's parents had been students from Algeria at the University of Paris when the Nazis overran Franch.

Samira's mother is a spy for the French Resistance. If caught it means automatic arrest and jail and even being shot as a spy. With him is seventeen-year-old Private Sid Jacobstein, a hulking six-foot four-inches tall Jewish New Yorker bent on revenge.But their landing on Omaha Beach is a disaster as they face a brutal hailstorm of bullets that cuts down many of the soldiers.Įleven-year-old Samira Zidane and her mother Kenza are racing along the road outside their village in German-occupied northern France. Now in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, as part of Operation Overlord, Dee finds himself aboard Higgins landing craft on the English Channel, headed towards Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. Determined to return to his homeland of Germany to 'beat Hitler', Dietrich decided to change his name at the suggestion of the recruiter. When the United States was drawn into the Second World War, Dee decided to enlist, something foreign nationals were allowed to do. But as the Nazis gained more and more support, Dee's parents fled to the United States. Dee's parents did not support the Nazi government's policies. His uncle was a labour leader involved in organizing factory workers in Nazi Germany. When Dee was only five-years-old his Uncle Otto vanished in what has become known in Germany as 'Night and Fog'. His parents were political refugees from Germany. Private Dee Carpenter is only sixteen years old. Allies tells the story of the D-Day invasion of June 1944 over a twenty-four hour period through the eyes of four main characters and a host of minor ones.

Alan gratz allies summary