D-Day Archives - The History Press

D-Day Landing Craft

Simon Appleby — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:10:01 +0000

The contribution of landing craft and their crews to the 1944 Normandy campaign was enormous, and often overlooked. Most of the more than 132,000 Allied troops who landed on the beaches on D-Day came ashore from landing craft. The book examines why so many different types of landing craft were used in the operation; how they were built in both the UK and North America, over several years and with many competing war production requirements and operational needs. In the lead up to D-Day the Allies never seemed to have enough landing craft, their availability and production regularly discussed by top Allied leaders. This account is essential to anyone who wants to fully understand the course of D-Day, and the nature of Allied preparations for the campaign.

The post D-Day Landing Craft appeared first on The History Press.

D-Day: The First 72 Hours

Simon Appleby — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:50:30 +0000

The Allied invasion of occupied France began with the delivery of three airborne and six infantry divisions onto a 60-mile stretch of the Normandy coast. Accomplishing this involved over 1,200 transport aircraft, 450 gliders, 325 assorted warships and over 4,000 landing vessels. Operation Overlord, as the invasion was code-named, remains the largest amphibious invasion in history. This books tells the story hour-by-hour as it unfurled on the beaches, as experienced by the Allied troops. D-Day: The First 72 Hours covers the initial attacks made by airborne and special forces until the point where all the beachheads were secured.

The post D-Day: The First 72 Hours appeared first on The History Press.

Black Yanks

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 04:01:20 +0000

This is the story of how an African American soldier from Missouri ended up on death row in D-Day Britain – and the extraordinary campaign that set him free. The drama played out over a tumultuous six weeks, set against a backdrop of the most audacious sea-borne invasion ever attempted.

As the build-up to D-Day escalates, Leroy Henry’s story unfolds, allowing us to view a pivotal point in history with an entirely new perspective, making race, the ‘special relationship’ and the British peoples’ collective power key considerations.

The fascinating, alternative timeline reveals an edgier wartime society, hidden tensions in Anglo-American relations and the moment the British tabloid press learned to roar. Ultimately this court martial – and everything it stood for – provoked mind-blowing decision-making at the highest military level.

Within the pages of Black Yanks, Kate Werran unearths archival material to reveal the story behind the first significant, if uncelebrated, win in the civil rights movement, a story that has been overlooked for nearly eight decades. Until now.

The post Black Yanks appeared first on The History Press.

Codeword Overlord

Simon Appleby — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:50:11 +0000

It was inevitable that the Allies would invade France in the summer of 1944: the Nazis just had to figure out where and when. This job fell to the Abwehr and several other German intelligence services. Between them they put over 30,000 personnel to work studying British and American signals traffic, and achieved considerable success in intercepting and decrypting enemy messages. They also sent agents to England – but they weren’t to know that none of them would be successful.

Until now, the Nazi intelligence community has been disparaged by historians as incompetent and corrupt, but newly released declassified documents suggest this wasn’t the case – and that they had a highly sophisticated system that concentrated on the threat of an Allied invasion. Written by acclaimed espionage historian Nigel West, Codeword Overlord is a vital reassessment of Axis behaviour in one of the most dramatic episodes of the twentieth century.

The post Codeword Overlord appeared first on The History Press.

D-Day Diary

Simon Appleby — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:57:31 +0000

6 June 1944 is one of the most memorable dates of the Second World War. It marked the beginning of the end of the conflict as Allied forces invaded Normandy and fought their way into Nazi-occupied Europe. Operation Overlord, as the invasion was codenamed, was an incredible feat. It also proved to be a turning point that would eventually result in the defeat of Nazi Germany. Around 150,000 soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy on the first day in the largest amphibious operation in history. Within a month more than 1 million men had been put ashore.

As memory becomes history, first-hand accounts of this incredible moment become more and more precious. In D-Day Diary, historian Carol Harris brings together remarkable tales of bravery, survival and sacrifice from what was one of the war’s most dramatic and pivotal episodes.

The post D-Day Diary appeared first on The History Press.

Remarkable Journeys of the Second World War

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 04:02:59 +0000

Those who lived through the Second World War have many stories of bravery, sadness, horror, doubt and longing. Inspired by conversations with veterans following the publication of her grandfather’s wartime memoir, Victoria Panton Bacon has gathered a moving collection of their experiences. Their recollections tell of a different time and reveal the courage, actions and sentiments of those whose wartime experiences changed the course of history; stories of ordinary people who lived under the long shadows cast by the war and whose young lives were changed irrevocably. Though many tales are sad, describing being sent into war and the loss of friends and family, there are also stories of joy and love found in the darkest of times. For them, war, the ultimate leveller, threw them into remarkable times, whether they were a merchant seaman, army officer, pilot, young Jewish girl, code breaker or Home Guard recruit. From one extraordinary story to the next, Remarkable Journeys of the Second World War immerses the reader in the lives of real people who lived through conflict.

The post Remarkable Journeys of the Second World War appeared first on The History Press.

D-Day

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 04:01:24 +0000

D-Day was the pivotal turning point of the Second World War. The assault on the beaches of Normandy was an astounding feat of logistical prowess, technological innovation and heroism. Allied Command secretly planned an invasion of unprecedented scale by sea and air, which saw the tide of the war shift irrevocably. Following the landing, over a million men, alongside vehicles, ammunition and equipment were coming ashore, all to support the bloody campaign to liberate Europe. A story of ingenuity and devastating loss of life, the moving history of D-Day – its impact and its cost – is captured here in vivid detail. Compiled from the Mirrorpix archives, this collection charts the planning, action and aftermath of Operation Overlord, with a foreword by Philip Hamlyn Williams.

The post D-Day appeared first on The History Press.

D-Day 1944

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 04:01:31 +0000

D-Day was unprecedented. An invasion of this scale and magnitude had never been carried out before. The landings in North Africa, Sicily and Italy were of limited scope by comparison; if they had failed it would not have been a complete disaster, whereas Normandy heralded the long-awaited Second Front. This dramatic new study investigates the great feats of unique problem-solving that enabled the success of such an important invasion. Military historian Anthony Tucker-Jones brings his expert eye to bear on the D-Day landings and subsequent Normandy campaign. He reassesses the technical ingenuity required through the eyes of those who fought there, and vividly reveals how each side managed, whether dealing with the challenges of crossing the Channel safely or in defence of the French coast. Including first-hand accounts, D-Day 1944 places the reader in the thick of the action.

The post D-Day 1944 appeared first on The History Press.

Operation Neptune

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 04:02:29 +0000

Long-awaited, the Normandy landings were the largest amphibious operation in history. Success was achieved by the advent of specialised landing craft, heavy naval firepower and the creation of two artificial harbours and an underwater pipeline. Operation Neptune: The Prelude to D-Day tells the story of this incredible feat using eyewitness accounts of the landings and the breaching of Hitler’s famed ‘Atlantic Wall’.

David Wragg explores the earlier Allied and Axis experiences with amphibious operations and the planning for Neptune and Overlord. He reveals the naval support needed once the armies were ashore and before continental ports could be captured and cleared of mines, with operations such as minesweeping off the Normandy coast, which led to one of the worst ‘friendly fire’ incidents of the war. This is the must-read book to understand what made D-Day possible.

The post Operation Neptune appeared first on The History Press.

The D-Day Story

Simon Appleby — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:10:01 +0000

D-Day,6 June 1944 is a day that is emblazoned in history, witnessing the first day of the Allied Operation Overlord – the mass invasion of Normandy. Planned for many months and executed swiftly, these landings saw over 160,000 troops embark from specially designed craft onto a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast. It was the largest amphibious operation of all time and involved 73,000 American troops, over 61,000 British troops and 21,400 Canadians, with over 6,000 ships and landing craft being deployed. As the troops set foot on the five designated beaches: Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah and Omaha they were met with resistance and in some cases heavy machine-gun fire, with over 12,000 casualties being sustained.

The D-Day Story is packed with stunning photographs and maps, making it the perfect introduction to this historic event.

The post The D-Day Story appeared first on The History Press.