D- day and the battle for Normandy describes in words and pictures the way that the ordinary soldier lived, fought, and died in World War II. Using archival and reenactment photographs and contemporary accounts, it portrays what it was like for ordinary men to be thrust into the most extreme conditions they ever had to face. On June 6, 1944, the greatest military operation in the history of the world succeeded in landing some 150 5000 men of the allied armies – U.S., British, and Canadian - on the shores of northern France. This book is a vivid record of what that great campaign was like, in the words of frontline soldiers. Their story is one of ordinary men sent far from home to confront the day-to-day realities of the battlefield. They recalled the discomfort and exhaustion of living in the open, surviving on uncertain rations and too little sleep, the ordeal of enduring enemy fire, and the sight of friends killed and maimed. By the time the battle of Normandy was won, these troops had endured some of the most savage and costly fighting of World War II. -- From the back cover.

Getting ready -- Getting there by air -- US airborne -- British & Canadian airborne -- Getting there by sea -- The crossing -- The American beaches -- The British & Canadian beaches -- Staying there -- The Battle of the Bocage -- Front line rations -- The enemy -- The American front -- Air support -- Tanks in the Bocage -- Civilians -- The British front -- Casualties -- Letters home.