The Great Battles of

World War II
Overlord
The real story of D-Day and
Issue
No.1
the invasion of
Normandy
£7.99
PRINTED IN THE UK
FWG05 2013

The build-up Airborne assault

Planning the massive Gripping accounts of the
amphibious operation perilous midnight raids Detailed illustrations
 The Great Battles of World War II
The Great Battles of

World War II
The Great Battles: D-Day
6
Following crucial
victories in 1942
at El Alaemin
in North Africa,
Stalingrad in the
USSR and Medway
in the Pacific,
the Allies of the
United States of
America, the USSR,
Great Britain and
Commonwealth
countries had
begun to win more
victories and push
German forces
further back…
Mondadori via Getty Images

El Alamein, 1942: Soldiers and officers of

the British infantry launch an attack.

Contents
08 09

12 The Great Battles: D-Day Preparation

16
The Great Battles: D-Day Preparation

First moves 06-53 Since 1943 American troops had been arriving en
masse, either to complete the training they had started
in their homeland, or to recover following campaigns
in North Africa and the Mediterranean. The men were
billeted in the homes of locals or in large camps that
engulfed the countryside. The men trained by assaulting
the beaches on the south coasts of England and Wales,
practising manoeuvres in towns and countryside, and
aiming artillery in the fields and mountains. In their
spare time they visited towns and cities in their uniform,
attended dances and befriended the locals. This build-up
Continued from page 13
While codes were being broken
and agents deployed, the troops
earmarked for the invasion were
busy studying maps and plans for
the enormous, elaborate Operation
Overlord. The plan had been argued
over, dissected, analysed, scrutinised,
argued over some more, and finally
foothold on the French coast to get the
three million troops in Great Britain
onto European soil within weeks.
Everything rested on the first day of the
invasion, codenamed D-Day.
As 1943 moved into 1944, German
units were being chewed up in the meat
grinder that was the Russian front. The
numbers of men in Britain swelled and
The elaborate plan
was designed to
give the Allies a
big enough foot-
did not go unnoticed by the observant enemy. set in stone by the commanders of the they continued their training. hold on the French

06 Background - the origins of D-Day

armed forces of Great Britain, Tidal patterns and moon cycles
Canada and the United States, under were examined to identify the most coast to get three
Supreme Allied Commander, General favourable time for both the airborne
Dwight Eisenhower. troops and those landing via sea. The million troops into
The invasion would centre on the most suitable conditions were found
biggest amphibious assault ever to be in early June, and 5 June was Europe.
staged, with tens of thousands of primarily given for the date of the
troops landing on five beaches on the invasion. Now all they had to rely on
Normandy coast, supported by the was secrecy and the weather.
biggest combined naval and airborne Despite temperatures of 100˚F in detecting force six winds. Eisenhower,
force ever assembled, which would late May, the forecasts coming from barely sleeping, constantly supplied
pound the miles of concrete bunkers Dr James Stagg and his meteorological with coffee and smoking four cartons
and defences set up along the team made for grim reading. Given of Camel cigarettes a day, did not want
Atlantic Wall. the perilous circumstances that both the near 180,000 troops in the first
the airborne and assault troops would assault to be cooped up and lose their
TWIN ATTACK face, the thought of rain, heavy cloud battle edge, but neither did he wish

12 Plans - Preparing for the invasion

The dawn landings would be preceded cover, poor visibility, strong winds to risk their lives any more than was
by an airborne assault. Thousands of and turbulent seas filled General absolutely necessary.
paratroopers and glider-borne soldiers Eisenhower with dread.
would be dropped behind the beaches By the time the first battleships had ANXIOUS WAIT
to secure or destroy vital roads and left port on Thursday 1 June, deep Presented with the dire forecast by his
bridges, and cause maximum confusion depressions over the North Atlantic advisors, he agreed to a provisional
among the unsuspecting defenders. had thrown the carefully laid plans 24-hour postponement. At 4.15am
This elaborate plan was designed into chaos. By the Saturday morning, on Sunday 4 June, when the situation
to give the Allies a big enough weather stations in Ireland were hadn’t improved, Eisenhower alerted

The thought of

22 The Airborne Assault - The daring

rain, strong winds
and rough seas filled
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

attack from the skies

General Eisenhower

©Osprey Publishing
The Atlantic Wall: A defensive barrier
of minefields, fortifications and barbed wire

with dread.
fences, Hitler’s Atlantic Wall stretched from
Scandinavia to the Spanish border. Construction
was started in 1942 and continued until 1944.

14 15 16 17

Beach landings 54-117 The Great Battles: D-Day 22

56 Utah - The most westerly point of the
invasion, target of the US 4th Infantry The
70 Omaha - Scene of the fiercest fighting Airborne
90 Pointe du Hoc - Elite squads storm
German gun placements
Assault
B
efore the tens of thousands of men on
the beaches could be expected to land
ahead of the Atlantic Wall and drive
inland, three divisions of airborne

98 British and Commonwealth - The

infantry would help weaken the German forces’
capability to repel them.
On each flank of the Normandy invasion front,
thousands of paratroopers and men who swooped

assaults on Gold, Juno and Sword

into battle in gliders were to use the surprise tactics
so effectively employed by German airborne troops
in the first years of the war.
They were tasked with capturing and destroying
strongpoints such as bridges, river crossings and
towns to prevent the movement of reinforcements,
and, crucially, to wreak havoc on the oblivious
Germans. They would also be aided by the French
Resistance, who were alerted to the invasion via
radio codes and went about taking out vital German
lines of communication.

• Cutting a path 24
D-Day aftermath 118-129 • The jump 30
• 101st Airborne Division 38

118 The big push - Overlord continues…

• 82nd Airborne Division 40
• British 6th Airborne 46
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

129 Index
22 23

02

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 Section Title

OVERLORD
The real story of D-DAY and the invasion of Normandy

The Great Battles: D-Day 42 The Great Battles: D-Day 88

1

2
8

Illustration and caption ©Osprey Publishing

Boston Mission – 82nd 4

Airborne Division over Drop

Zone T, 02.40hrs, D-Day

Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA

5

B
ased at Fulbeck in England, the 442nd Troop of the Douglas DC-3 civil airliner. The main structural The large surface of area of the deploying canopy tended assault gas mask in waterproof bag from his left hip (not
Carrier Group was attached to the 52nd Wing difference between the two types was the use of a large cargo to swing the paratrooper around again, and within seconds, visible). He has a fighting knife (6) strapped to his right
for the D-Day airlift. The group’s four squadrons door on the left-rear side of the C-47 fuselage. The C-47 the shroud lines cleared the pack and the canopy blossomed, leg above his jump boots. Although not visible here he also
made up Serial 26 of Mission Boston and arrived had simple, folding bench seats in the main cabin instead giving the paratrooper a hard jolt. Quick deployment of the carries a .45 cal automatic in a holster on his hip with a
over Drop Zone T between 02.39 and 02.42hrs on D-Day. of conventional passenger seats. On paratrooper missions parachute was essential since the drops were conducted from folding knife in its scabbard in front of this. On his chest is
The serial carried 45 sticks of paratroopers: 36 from the such as this, the typical load was one ‘stick’ of paratroopers, only 700ft. US paratroopers also carried a reserve chute on a TL-122C flashlight (7).
rifle companies of the 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry which usually totalled 18 to 20 men. Alternatively, fewer their chest (3). Paratroopers on D-Day wore the M1942 paratroop
Regiment, and nine sticks of the headquarters company. The paratroopers and more cargo could be air-dropped. This paratrooper is armed with a .45 cal. Thompson battledress with its distinctive pockets. The paratrooper’s
group lost one plane on the approach, and suffered damage to The paratrooper in the foreground, a Tech 5 from the sub-machine gun (4), which has been tucked under the M1C helmet (8) resembles the normal GI helmet, but has
31 of its aircraft due to flak over the drop zone. 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), is seen moments waist web of the T-5 parachute harness to keep it in place. a modified liner and chinstrap to absorb the shock of the
This image shows aircraft from the 305th Troop Carrier after jumping from the aircraft. After leaving the C-47, the The paratroops carried a good deal of equipment into opening parachute. The first aid packet (9) taped to the front Survivors: Wounded men of the 3rd Battalion,
Squadron (TCS), which carried the code 4J on their noses aircraft’s slipstream tended to blow the paratrooper backward combat. Just visible under the harness is his yellow ‘Mae of the helmet for ready access contained a field dressing, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division,
(1) (the other squadrons were J7: 303rd TCS; V4: 304th TCS; and curl him up. As the static line opened up the T-5 West’ life vest. His musette bag hangs under the reserve tourniquet and morphine. Many paratroopers wore gloves to lean against the chalk cliff face at Colleville-
and 7H: 306th TCS). The C-47 was a military derivative parachute pack, the olive drab canopy began to deploy (2). chute, an ammunition bag from his right hip (5), and an protect their hands during the jump. sur-Mer to receive cigarettes and food.

42 43 88

70
The Great Battles: D-Day Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach
I
n the nervous hours leading up attempt, it is mine alone.” The terrible,
to D-Day, General Eisenhower terrifying events that unfolded on
wrote two versions of the Omaha Beach, in the middle of
announcement that would be the Normandy front, meant that
released to the public at the end Eisenhower came desperately close to
of the day. releasing the second statement.
The first proclaimed that the dawn
invasion had established a beachhead
in France, while the second read: • The build up 72
“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre
area have failed to gain a satisfactory
foothold and I have withdrawn the
• H-Hour arrives 74
troops. My decision to attack at this
time and place was based upon the
best information available. The troops,
• The second wave 82
Air and Navy, did all that bravery and
devotion to duty could do. If there is
any blame or fault attached to the
• High noon 88

In training: American troops of the 7th Naval

Beach Battalion, photographed during a training
exercise in Britain. For the invasion, the 7th was
assigned to the western section of Omaha.
Getty Images
©Xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

70 71

03

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 The Great Battles: D-Day

The
Airborne
Assault
B
efore the tens of thousands of men on
the beaches could be expected to land
ahead of the Atlantic Wall and drive
inland, three divisions of airborne
infantry would help weaken the German forces’
capability to repel them.
On each flank of the Normandy invasion front,
thousands of paratroopers and men who swooped
into battle in gliders were to use the surprise tactics
so effectively employed by German airborne troops
in the first years of the war.
They were tasked with capturing and destroying
strongpoints such as bridges, river crossings and
towns to prevent the movement of reinforcements,
and, crucially, to wreak havoc on the oblivious
Germans. They would also be aided by the French
Resistance, who were alerted to the invasion via
radio codes and went about taking out vital German
lines of communication.

• Cutting a path 24
• The jump 30
• 101st Airborne Division 38
• 82nd Airborne Division 40
• British 6th Airborne 46

22

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 Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

23

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 The Great Battles: D-Day

Utah Beach
A
t 3am the sound of bombs repair ships, and all manner of landing
landing on the biggest craft could follow towards Normandy.
German batteries could To the east, beaches codenamed
be heard from the troop Gold, Juno and Sword were the targets
carriers nine miles off shore, as for the British and Canadian forces,
aircraft attempted to soften up the who were to push on to capture the
defences along the five beaches. town of Caen; while to the west of
Some 5,000 ships had assembled Bayeux, the US First Army’s V and
around the Isle of Wight at their VII Corps would be respectively
rendezvous point, known as responsible for Omaha and the most
‘Piccadilly Circus’. westerly point of the invasion, Utah.
A fleet of 243 minesweepers then
steamed ahead to France, opening up
400m-wide fast and slow lanes so the
• The first wave 58
troop carriers, battleships, cruisers,
destroyers, amphibious tank launchers,
casualty ships, ammunition boats,
• The aerial bombardment 62

56

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 Utah Beach

Getty Images

57

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 The Great Battles: D-Day

In training: American troops of the 7th Naval

Beach Battalion, photographed during a training
exercise in Britain. For the invasion, the 7th was
assigned to the western section of Omaha.
Getty Images
©Xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

70

FWG05.omaha.indd 70 12/07/2013 5:17 pm

 Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach
I
n the nervous hours leading up attempt, it is mine alone.” The terrible,
to D-Day, General Eisenhower terrifying events that unfolded on
wrote two versions of the Omaha Beach, in the middle of
announcement that would be the Normandy front, meant that
released to the public at the end Eisenhower came desperately close to
of the day. releasing the second statement.
The first proclaimed that the dawn
invasion had established a beachhead
in France, while the second read: • The build up 72
“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre
area have failed to gain a satisfactory
foothold and I have withdrawn the
• H-Hour arrives 74
troops. My decision to attack at this
time and place was based upon the
best information available. The troops,
• The second wave 82
Air and Navy, did all that bravery and
devotion to duty could do. If there is
any blame or fault attached to the
• High noon 88

71

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 The Great Battles: D-Day

D-Day +1: British soldiers march through the

medieval streets of Bayeux, a town they liberated
on 7 June after landing at nearby Gold Beach
the previous morning.
AFP/Getty Images

100

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 British & Commonwealth Beaches

Gold Beach
The British invasion began later than the US landings further along the
coast, with the task of taking the town of Bayeux the prime objective

A
lthough the troops’ assault Yeomanry and 4th/7th Dragoon Guards and bits of bodies,” he recalled. “One
of the British beaches actually launched at just 1,000 yards. bloke near me was blown in half by a
didn’t commence until Some were still swamped by the shell and his lower part collapsed in a
7:30am – an hour after the ferocious seas, but losses were far less bloody heap in the sand.”
American D-Day landing – the naval than on the American sector.
bombardment began at 3am, giving However, the seas delayed the ENTER THE COMMANDOS
extra time to soften up the robust Sherwoods, meaning on the right the The elite 47 Commando of the Royal
German defences. troops of the Royal Hampshires and 1st Marines landing in the same area,
The most westerly of the British Dorsets on the right wing at Le Hamel suffered similar losses to their US
beaches, Gold, right in the centre of landed ahead of their armour and were Ranger counterparts including all their
the invasion front, was intended to hammered by the German defenders; wireless radios. Yet they still managed
take pressure off and link up with the their commanding officer were killed to advance west along the coast
crucial American landings at Omaha. immediately. They waded ashore and towards the Longues-ser-Mer battery
The task of landing first fell to the took hours to clear the area. towards Omaha, while field artillery
50th Northumbrian Division, which By the time Gunner Charles Wilson was brought into play straight away to
aimed to get footholds in the towns of of the 147th Field Regiment arrived, support the advance.
La Rivière to the left and Arromanches the scene in front of Le Hamel was Lt Tony Richardson of the Essex
to the right and advance seven miles as bad as the most fiercely defended Artilery was steadfast in his mission
inland to Bayeux by the end of the day. sections of Omaha. “The beach was to get ashore and exchange fire with
strewn with wreckage, a blazing tank, the Germans. “The sea was rough. The
BOMBING SUPPORT bundles of blankets and kit, bodies boys wanted to stop and pick up the
The beach itself was desperately short
in places, leading up to the Atlantic
Wall and even high ground on the right,

“The beach
making the naval and aerial support to
take out defensive fortifications and the
heavy coastal battery at Longues vital.
The bombers had comparatively little

was strewn with

impact on the well-constructed
German positions, but the naval
bombardment from the mythologically-
inspired HMS Argonaut and Ajax was

wreckage, a blazing
far more successful.
The British command also put a
greater emphasis on support of tanks,
guns and specially-built armoured

tank and bodies…”

vehicles. Instead of launching as
far out as the Americans, the order
was given to launch the amphibious
Sherman DDs at 5,000 yards.
However, seeing the size of the
waves they were expected to advance
through, the Sherwood Rangers Gunner Charles Wilson
101

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 The Great Battles: D-Day

Battle scarred: Soldiers take a brief respite after

taking the Normandy beaches.

118

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 The aftermath
The first, frantic hours of D-Day
were over. Despite the terrible toll,
the invasion force had succeeded
in its initial objective…

Getty Images

119

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 The Great Battles of

World War II A complete guide to

D-Day that brings the
story of Operation
Overlord’s brutal battle to
life like never before.
• Captivating tales of bravery
• Stories from the troops
• Stunning photography
• Detailed illustrations

How it happened: the Normandy landings, Blow-by-blow accounts of the savage The crucial raids made by thousands of
from the planning to the final push and bloody battles for the beaches paratroopers the night before D-Day

Illustrated guides showcasing the key

millitary hardware that made a difference

Relive the defining

moments of Europe’s
fiercest fight
9000

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