War Stories of D-Day: Operation Overlord: June 6, 1944 - Hardcover

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, over 150,000 Allied troops took the fight to the enemy, their incursion paving the way to their ultimate victory over Nazi tyranny.  This book tells the story of those who lived and fought through this historic conflict.  In first-person accounts of the Normandy landings, soldiers recreate the harrowing, world-changing drama of taking the beaches of France, dropping from the sky, wading out of landing craft, fighting to survive and, in the process, keeping alight the hopes of humanity.

Overlord, the daring cross-channel attack on the German-occupied coast of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, proved to be the biggest amphibious operation in history. It was more than just another attack. It was the maximum effort of the Western Allies in Europe, the consummation of the grand design to defeat Nazi Germany. Once ashore on the continent of Europe, the Allied armies were to drive across northwestern Europe and strike at the heart of Hitler’s Third Reich to take the fight to the enemy’s homeland.

The opening stage of the invasion of Normandy began in the early hours of June 6 with a massive aerial onslaught by one British and two American airborne divisions dropped behind four invasion beach sites in order to secure routes of advance for the oncoming seaborne troops. These seaborne troops would begin their landing on the European continent at 6:30 a.m. The beach assaults would go well, except at the American beach codenamed Omaha. Despite early setbacks on Omaha, America’s fighting men rose to the occasion and would not be pushed back into the sea by the German army.

War Stories of D-Day features first-person stories of some who took part in the operation, including those paratroopers who dropped out of the sky through heavy fire, those who survived the heavily mined waters to wade onto heavily fortified beaches, and those representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force who provided crucial support.