The D-Day Atlas : Anatomy of the Normandy Campaign

Now available in paperback for the seventieth anniversary: a compelling history of the D-Day invasion told through superb cartography and authoritative text.

D-Day was the culmination of four years of planning and preparation that began in the summer of 1940 when Britain stood alone and under imminent threat of German cross-Channel invasion. Charles Messenger's vivid study of the landings and subsequent campaign chronicles the gradual evolution of the invasion plan, encompassing the intelligence efforts, the Ango-US strategic debate over where the Allies should attack, and the elaborate deception put in place to fool the Germans about the true D-Day objective. The build-up culminates in a day-by-day account of the landings by sea and by air on the beaches of Normandy Utah,Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword and the ensuing grim struggle for six weeks to break through the German defenses.