"People of Western Europe. A landing was made this morning on the coast of France..."
With these simple — yet memorable — words, General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, announced to the world on June 6, 1944 that the Allies had begun Operation ‘Overlord’ to liberate Europe.
Now, 50 years later, After the Battle presents the full story: from its inception, planning and preparation through to its launch on D-Day and the days that followed, as told by the commanders whose responsibility it was.
Many of the hundreds of ‘then and now’ photographs have been taken exactly 50 years later — sometimes to the precise minute — from when the original events took place, creating a unique two-volume record of the greatest combined military, naval and air operation of all time.
PRELUDE — General George C. Marshall
OPERATION ‘OVERLORD’ —General Dwight D. Eisenhower
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE — Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith
GERMAN DEFENCES — Oberst Bodo Zimmermann
ULTRA — Major Ralph Bennett
COMMAND DECISIONS — Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur W. Tedder
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS — General Sir Bernard Montgomery
AIR OPERATIONS FOR D-DAY — Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory
OK, LET’S GO? — General Dwight D. Eisenhower
OPERATION ‘NEPTUNE’ — Admiral Sir Bertram H. Ramsay
6th AIRBORNE DIVISION — Major-General Richard Gale
SPECIAL DUTY OPERATIONS — Brigadier Roderick McLeod
D-DAY’S FIRST FATAL CASUALTY — Father Alberic Stacpoole
82nd AIRBORNE DIVISION — Major General Matthew B. Ridgway
101st AIRBORNE DIVISION — Major General Maxwell D. Taylor
