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.

WWI 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. 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 narrative moves smoothly and crisply. There is effective treatment of strategy, preparations, and then the invasion and battle for Saipan itself.” —Spencer C. Tucker, author of American Revolution In June 1944 the attention of the nation was riveted on events unfolding in France. But in the Pacific, the Battle of Saipan was of extreme strategic importance. This is a gripping account of one of the most dramatic engagements of World War II. The conquest of Saipan and the neighboring island of Tinian was a turning point in the war in the Pacific as it made the American victory against Japan inevitable. Until this battle, the Japanese continued to believe that success in the war remained possible. While Japan had suffered serious setbacks as early as the Battle of Midway in 1942, Saipan was part of her inner defense line, so victory was essential. The American victory at Saipan forced Japan to begin considering the reality of defeat. For the Americans, the capture of Saipan meant secure air bases for the new B-29s that were now within striking distance of all Japanese cities, including Tokyo. “Harold Goldberg’s riveting story of this conflict brings the dead back to life by blending rigorous research with dramatic narratives by hundreds of survivors. He has written a superb account of a pivotal, little-known, and heart-breaking battle.” —Col. Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (ret.),author of Storm Landings “Using recent interviews he conducted with extant US veterans, [Goldberg] skillfully develops the soldiers’ view of the battle for Saipan in an engaging, clearly written and interesting volume.” —The Journal of Military History

“A moving examination of how French civilians experienced the fighting” at Normandy during WWII from the acclaimed author of What Soldiers Do (Telegraph, UK). “Like big black umbrellas, they rain down on the fields across the way, and then disappear behind the black line of the hedges.” Silent parachutes dotting the night sky—that’s how one Normandy woman learned that the D-Day invasion was under way in June of 1944. Though they yearned for liberation, the French had to steel themselves for war, knowing that their homes, lands, and fellow citizens would have to bear the brunt of the attack. With D-Day through French Eyes, Mary Louise Roberts turns the conventional narrative of D-Day on its head, taking readers across the Channel to view the invasion anew. Roberts builds her history from an impressive range of gripping first-person accounts by French citizens throughout the region. A farm family notices that cabbage is missing from their garden—then discovers that the guilty culprits are American paratroopers hiding in the cowshed. Fishermen rescue pilots from the wreck of their B-17, then search for clothes big enough to disguise them as civilians. A young man learns to determine whether a bomb is whistling overhead or silently plummeting toward them. When the allied infantry arrived, French citizens guided them to hidden paths and little-known bridges, giving them crucial advantages over the German occupiers. As she did in her acclaimed account of GIs in postwar France, What Soldiers Do, Roberts here sheds vital new light on a story we thought we knew. "In the great tradition of Studs Terkel and Is Paris Burning?, Mary Louise Roberts uses the diaries and memoirs of French civilians to narrate a history of the French at D-Day that has for too long been occluded by the mythology of the allied landing.”—Alice Kaplan, author of Dreaming in French

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.