Sometimes it is easy to forget that the US 82nd and 101st airborne divisions were not the only paratroopers to drop into Normandy on D Day!The British 6th Airborne Division had a vital task in securing the flank at the opposite end of the invasion zone from Utah Beach. The landings, both by glider and parachute, by these intrepid soldiers and their taking of the strategically important Pegasus Bridge and the silencing of the battery at Merville contributed greatly to the success of the invasion.This highly illustrated book, with detailed photo captions, depicts the soldiers and their equipment and analyzes the tactics and success of their mission.

Packed with color photographs and detailed maps, the perfect pocket guide to the Normandy battle zone The strengths, weaknesses, and sheer drama of airborne warfare are all encapsulated in the 6th Airborne Division's attacks on Pegasus Bridge and the Merville Battery in Normandy. The lightly armed but highly trained and motivated airborne troops sought to overcome a more heavily armed enemy desperate to unhinge the D-day invasion. Starting with an examination of the 6th Airborne Division, its plan, and the German opposition, Lloyd Clark provides an overview of British operations east of the River Orne from the initial landings in the early hours of June 6, 1944, to the capture of Breville, seven days later. The battlefield tours that follow include not only the famous and dramatic assaults on Pegasus Bridge and the Merville Battery, but also the lesser-known struggles to secure the British southern flank on June 6 and 7 and the Battle of Breville on June 12. Full of color photos and detailed maps, this is the must-have guide for any armchair historian or battlefield tourist.

'Riveting . . . Full of daring action, standout characters and cutting edge operations, this is unputdownable' Damien Lewis 'Gripping and authoritative. Family men, circus performers, solicitors, communists, and reactionaries all fought together and shed blood for their country - a true and moving story of war' Andy McNab ------------------------------------ Their German enemies called them the 'Red Devils'. Montgomery described them as 'men apart - every man an Emperor'. The cards they received on qualifying began: 'You are the elite of the British army'. The Parachute Regiment. In this gripping, authorized account, bestselling historian Mark Urban tells the story of the wartime creation and development of Britain's elite airborne infantry - who ranged from circus performers to solicitors, policemen to gravediggers, Christians and Jews to communists. Through the fates of six men - including recently widowed Geoffrey Pine-Coffin, who had to leave his little boy at home to head to the front, and Mike Lewis, whose photographs became iconic images of war - Urban vividly shows what it took to succeed in this new regiment. All six men would shed blood for their country in daring actions at D-Day, Arnhem and across the Second World War; two would not survive, and one would face disgrace. Based on deep archival research, British and German sources and new material from the men's families, and giving overdue recognition to the North African campaign, Urban's unvarnished history is a compelling and moving depiction of the highs and lows of battle.

The first hours and days following the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944 have a strong claim to be amongst the most crucial in world history. Spearheading this vast undertaking were crack British and American airborne forces. The Day The Devils Dropped In examines in fascinating detail the pivotal role of the 9th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment over the first week of the landings. Tasked with neutralizing the mighty Merville Battery, capturing Le Plein and the Château St Côme on the Breville Ridge, failure by the Paras to achieve any of these key objectives could well have unraveled the whole OVERLORD operation with catastrophic consequences. In his quest to uncover the true story of the early days of the landings, Neil Barber has successfully tracked down surviving participants in the operation. As a result he is able to tell the full story of the fierce fighting that characterized the early days of the landings largely in the very words of those who lived through the experience. This adds much to the credibility and immediacy of this enthralling book, which paints a superb picture of what soldiers care to call 'the fog of war'. The result is an inspiring and revealing read and a fine tribute to those whose contribution must never be forgotten.

Experience the battlefields of D-Day in this beautiful book combining historical images, full-color aerial photography, and informative text. The D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied Normandy was the most dramatic turning point of World War II. With a combination of historic and contemporary photography, along with maps and other illustrations, The Normandy Battlefields takes readers “on-site” to the sacred battlegrounds. The armada that attacked from Britain left behind many signs of their passage. The Normandy Battlefields details what can be seen on the ground today using a mixture of media to provide a complete overview of the campaign. Maps old and new highlight what has survived and what hasn’t; then-and-now photography allows fascinating comparisons with the images taken at the time, and computer artwork provides graphic details of things that can’t be seen today. The book describes the area from Cherbourg to Le Havre by way of the key D-Day locations, providing a handbook for the visitor and an overview for the armchair traveler. It covers the forces from both sides and the memorials to those young men who fought so many years ago.

From Bruneval to North Africa, from Normandy to Suez, by parachute and glider the men of the Airborne Forces have gone by air to battle. But their activities have by no means been confined to purely airborne operations- the Special Air Service performed prodigies of valor behind the German Lines in the Western Desert and Italy; the Glider Pilot Regiment fought beside their infantry comrades in Normandy, at Arnhem and across the Rhine. Their post-war successors, maintaining these traditions, have stood between Jew and Arab in Palistine; fought and sweltered in the jungles of Malaya and Borneo; sweated in the Persian Gulf and the Radfan; chocked on the summer dust of Cypriot roads; tasted the grit and sand of Egypt and Jordan in their mess mess tins; spent more then a decade facing terrorist ambush, bombs and bullets in Northern Ireland; experienced subzero temperatures and biting arctic winds in the South Atlantic and 'tabbed' across the Falklands to spearhead victory in 1982. Now should the aircrews who flew them be forgotten, or the air supply dispatches who maintained them, or the units who supported them. With well over 100 photographs and illustrations this book is a comprehensive single-volume history of the Airborne Forces. Accounts are given of the airborne actions fought by the British Army, whilst the development of the parachute assault and the use of the glider-borne troops can be followed from their infancy to the massive coup de main technique employed in the Rhine crossing.

Comprehensively examining the first 24 hours of the liberation of Europe, this work includes first hand accounts from both sides, vivid photographs and specially commissioned maps of the landing areas and combat zones.