Eyewitness D-Day : firsthand accounts from the landing at Normandy to the liberation of Paris
(Book + CD)

Sound disc includes selected witness interviews.

Includes bibliographical references (page 254) and index.

On May 30, 1944, tens of thousands of Allied soldiers and sailors began to surge through coastal towns along the southern shores of England as they prepared for the most ambitious amphibious military operation in history. By the go-date of June 5, the convoy was loaded and ready, and advance elements of the invasion force set sail for the shores of Normandy. Inclement weather quickly forced their return, however, and as the anxious commanders looked on, conditions worsened. Fearing that a delay in the launch of greater than twenty-four hours would postpone the invasion for weeks-when the tides on the northern shores of France would next be conducive to such a huge landing of men and materiel-Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to go ahead with the attack the next morning, when there would be a brief break in the weather. The Allies set forth on June 6, 1944, forever after known as D-Day. By documenting the first-person reminiscences of the men and women who participated in the events surrounding the liberation of western Europe, and by painting the historical backdrop against which it all took place, the authors bring this momentous story to life. In the actual words of the sailors, soldiers, airmen, and medical personnel who were there-and illustrated with outstanding black-and-white and full-color images, including wartime pictures of the veterans themselves-one of the greatest human dramas unfolds in intimate detail across the pages of this book.