The invasion of Europe in 1944 and the victories that followed would not have been possible without the massive naval operation known as Neptune. Symonds traces the central thread of this Olympian event -- involving over five thousand ships and nearly half a million personnel -- from the first talks between British and American officials in the winter of 1941 to the storming of the beaches in the late spring of 1944. Neptune was the pinnacle of Allied organization and cooperation.

Includes maps of: Operation Torch, 8-11 NOV 1942; Mediterranean Tar Baby, JUL 1943-JAN 1944; Americans in Britain, DEC 1943-MAY 1944; Crossing, 5-6 JUN 1944; Bombardment, 0600, 6 JUN 1944; Omaha Beach, 0900, 6 JUN 1944; Plan for the Mulberry Harbor off Omaha Beach; Campaign for Cherbourg, 19-25 JUN 1944; Naval Bombardment of Cherbourg, 25 JUN 1944.

Prologue -- Germany First -- ARCADIA -- "We've Got to Go to Europe and Fight" -- The Mediterranean Tar Baby -- Casablanca to COSSAC -- Brits and Yanks -- "Some Damn Things Called LST's" -- SHAEF and ANCXF -- Duck, Fox, Beaver, Tiger -- "O.K. We'll Go" -- D-Day: The Invasion -- D-Day: The Beaches -- D-Day: The Crisis -- "The Shoreline Was Just a Shambles" -- "A Field of Ruins" -- Epilogue.