POINTE DU HOC: Debunking D-Day's Biggest Myth

McManus and Hymel go after the persistent myth — seeded by Cornelius Ryan and the 1962 film — that the Ranger assault on Pointe du Hoc was a wasted effort because the German guns had been moved. They track what actually happened to the battery, the German repositioning, and the Rangers' actions after scaling the cliffs, building a case that the mission mattered more than the popular narrative allows. McManus's academic credentials on the US Army in Normandy give this real weight, and the debunking is specific rather than contrarian for its own sake.