THE LONGEST DAY (350 pp.)—Cornelius Ryan—Simon & Schuster ($4.95).
No Allied soldier from General Eisenhower to Pvt. Schultz knew it. but D-day's luckiest augury was a pair of women's grey suede shoes, size 5½. They nestled in the command car of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel as he sped away from his Normandy headquarters on the morning of June 4, 1944, D-minus-two. Rommel, charged with throwing back any invasion attempt, planned to ask Hitler for reinforcements during his visit to Germany, but something more personal sent him on his trip. June 6 was his wife's...