Experience the Normandy invasion through some of D-Day’s most incredible photographs: “A rare contribution to our understanding of that historic event.” —Barrett Tillman, author of Brassey’s D-Day Encyclopedia Although it took a multinational coalition to conduct World War II’s amphibious D-Day landings, the US military made a major contribution to the operation that created mighty American legends and unforgettable heroes. In The Americans on D-Day: A Photographic History of the Normandy Invasion, WWII historian Martin K. A. Morgan presents 450 of the most compelling and dramatic photographs captured in northern France during the first day and week of its liberation. With eight chapters of place-setting author introductions, riveting period imagery, and highly detailed explanatory captions, Morgan offers anyone interested in D-Day a fresh look at a campaign that was fought many decades ago and yet remains the object of unwavering interest to this day. While some of these images are familiar, they have been treated anonymously for far too long and haven’t been placed within the proper context of time or place. Many others have never been published before. Together, these photographs reveal minute details about weapons, uniforms, and equipment, while simultaneously narrating an intimate human story of triumph, tragedy, and sacrifice. From Omaha Beach to Utah, from Sainte-Mère-Église to Pointe du Hoc, The Americans on D-Day is a striking visual record of the epic air, sea, and land battle that was the Normandy invasion.

The story behind D-Day begins in 1939 when Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, attacked Poland and ignited World War Two. The following year, the Germans occupied France and Western Europe and launched a vicious air war against Britain. In 1941, they invaded the Soviet Union. Seemingly unstoppable, the Nazis now held virtually all of Europe. They imposed a ruthless system of control and unleashed the horror of the Holocaust. However, by 1943, the tide had begun to turn in favor of the Allies, the forces opposed to Germany. In the east, despite huge losses, the Soviets began to force the Germans back.

Impressively researched, engrossing, lightning quick, and filled with human sorrow and elation, John C. McManus's The Americans at D-Day honors those Americans who lost their lives on D-Day, as well as those who were fortunate enough to survive. June 6, 1944 was a pivotal moment in the history of World War II in Europe. On that day the climactic and decisive phase of the war began. Those who survived the intense fighting on the Normandy beaches found their lives irreversibly changed. The day ushered in a great change for the United States as well, because on D-Day, America began its march to the forefront of the Western world. By the end of the Battle of Normandy, almost one of every two soldiers involved was an American, and without American weapons, supplies, and leadership, the outcome of the invasion and ensuing battle could have been very different. In the first of two volumes on the American contribution to the Allied victory at Normandy, John C. McManus (Deadly Brotherhood, Deadly Sky) examines, with great intensity and thoroughness, the American experience in the weeks leading up to D-Day and on the great day itself. From the build up in England to the night drops of airborne forces behind German lines and the landings on the beaches at dawn, from the famed figures of Eisenhower, Bradley, and Lightin' Joe Collins to the courageous, but little-known privates who fought so bravely, and under terrifying conditions, this is the story of the American experience at D-Day. What were the battles really like for the Americans at Utah and Omaha? What drove them to fight despite all adversity? How and why did they triumph? Thanks to extensive archival research, and the use of hundreds of first hand accounts, McManus answers these questions and many more. In The Americans at D-Day, a gripping narrative history reminiscent of Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, McManus takes readers into the minds of American strategists, into the hearts of the infantry, into hell on earth. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Provides a detailed, harrowing account of the D-Day assault on Omaha Beach from the perspective of the soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division as well as from the Gap Assault Team engineers who dealt with mines and other dangerous obstacles.

“Drawing universal truths from urgent battlefield crises, the author provides a terrific guide and training tool for leaders at all levels” (Ralph Peters, New York Times–bestselling author). The odds were against the Allies on June 6, 1944. The task ahead of the paratroopers who jumped over Normandy and the soldiers who waded ashore onto the beaches, all under fire, was colossal. In such circumstances, good leadership can be the deciding factor of victory or defeat. This book is about the extraordinary leadership of seven men who led American soldiers on D-Day and the days that followed. Some of them, like Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., and Lt. Dick Winters, are well known, while others are barely a footnote in the history books. This book is not a full history of D-Day, nor does it cover the heroic leadership shown by men in the armies of the Allies or members of the French Resistance, who also participated in the Normandy assault and battles for the lodgment areas. It is, however, a primer on how you can lead today, no matter what your occupation or role in life, by learning from the leadership of these seven figures. A critical task for every leader is to understand what leadership is. Socrates once said that you cannot understand something unless you can first define it in your own words. This book provides the reader with the means to define leadership by telling seven dramatic, immersive, and memorable stories that the reader will never forget. “Nobody tells a story better than John Antal and nobody knows better how to root out the lessons of history.” —James Jay Carafano, author of Wiki at War

The attack on Utah Beach during the Normandy invasion was one of the most successful military operations ever undertaken, especially bearing in mind the complexities of such a massive air & seaborne assault. Joseph Balkoski describes the unfolding drama.

From Stephen E. Ambrose, bestselling author of Band of Brothers and D-Day, the inspiring story of the ordinary men of the U.S. army in northwest Europe from the day after D-Day until the end of the bitterest days of World War II. In this riveting account, historian Stephen E. Ambrose continues where he left off in his #1 bestseller D-Day. Citizen Soldiers opens at 0001 hours, June 7, 1944, on the Normandy beaches, and ends at 0245 hours, May 7, 1945, with the allied victory. It is biography of the US Army in the European Theater of Operations, and Ambrose again follows the individual characters of this noble, brutal, and tragic war. From the high command down to the ordinary soldier, Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews to re-create the war experience with startling clarity and immediacy. From the hedgerows of Normandy to the overrunning of Germany, Ambrose tells the real story of World War II from the perspective of the men and women who fought it.