479 - D-Day The First 24 Hours by Will Fowler (Book)

D-Day

This book describes the dramatic history of the first 24 hours of the Normandy landings and explains in detail the events that occurred in each landing zone. The book begins with an overview of the immense preparations for the landings and the location of German forces around Normandy. The Aliies, able to read the secret German Enigma codes and thus discover the Germans' dispositions, were desperate to persuade the Germans that the landing would be in the Pas de Calais area north east of Normandy, and the various Allied deception plans are described.

It also gives a dedicated chapter to the airborne and glider landings which preceded the main assault, before describing each of the individual beach landings in turn, from west to east. Five beaches were the battlefields for the beginning of the liberation of Europe - codenamed Utah and Omaha for the US beaches, and Gold, Juno and Sword for the British and Canadian. Each landing operation is fully detailed, including the slaughter of US troops at Omaha beach, the chaotic scattering of airborne forces throughout the French countryside, the logistical nightmare of consolidating each bridge-head, the British and Canadian failure to push into Cae, and smaller actions such as the US Rangers scaling the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to clear German gun batteries.

With first hand acconts from both sides, vivid photographs, detailed fact boxes and specially commissioned maps of th elanding areas and combat zones.

Hardback