For the Allies as well as Germany, it will be the longest day'. So said
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel of the operations on D-Day; and he was
correct. This is the first volume of a most impressive tribute and
comprehensive five-part work that includes a multitude of personal
military and civilian accounts of the aerial operations which were
carried out on D-Day. At fifteen minutes after midnight on 6 June 1944
'Operation Overlord', the Allied invasion of Hitler's Festung Europe,
became reality. The logistics of landing almost 250,000 men by
amphibious craft seems almost unimaginable, yet a massive aerial
umbrella of 3,000 RAF and USAAF fighters, fighter-bombers and heavy
bombers, headed for France and more than 1,000 transport aircraft
dropped more than 17.000 paratroopers to secure the flanks and beach
exits of the assault area. Air superiority in the invasion areas was
total. It was a day that changed the whole course of the war and
resulted in the first steps to final victory in Europe.
Copious quotes from American and British and Dominion forces, fighting
men, sailors, airmen from the occupied countries and their German
opponents, tell of incredible, illuminating and often under-stated
actions of extraordinary courage, companionship and a common fear of
death or serious injury which offer a more personalized view of D-Day.
This first volume sets an impressive precedent for the rest of the
series.
