This covers the events in the English Channel and on the coast of France from the air drops and landings to the time when the news reached the world and, while taking its material strategically, includes kinds of experiences of individuals that were typical of hundreds of participants. The first section gives a picture of England and the tremendous preparations for the complicated plan of invasion -- the paper work, weather forecasting, the assembling and training of men and machines, the guards for secrecy, the build up to last minute changes and decisions about day and hour -- and the final release. Then come sections on the British air drop, the American drop, Utah Beach, Omaha Beach and the British Beaches, Gold, Juno and Sword, and each is a roll call of separate actions and men, British and American, from officers down, to the Germans and some of the French, who were part of the mammoth undertaking. All kinds of ships, landing craft, submarines, tanks, planes, parachutists, infantry; all kinds of solitary courage, heroism, valorous performances; all kinds of responses to the instructions to be followed and the demands that were made; and all kinds of men -- those who lived and the many that did not -- make up a book of careful research and a sensitivity to the impact of those hours. It makes sure fire reading that should commemorate an unequalled occasion for an audience which, if overwhelmed by books on the War, should find the individual stories underlining the immensity of the undertaking.

London ed. (Collins) has title: Dawn of D-day.

England -- The British air drop -- The American air drop -- Utah beach -- Omaha beach -- The British beaches -- The announcement.