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D-Day’s first 24 hours: New images shared on 75th anniversary

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D-Day’s first 24 hours: New images shared on 75th anniversary

Throughout the history of military operations, few 24-hour periods have been as crucial as that of June 6, 1944. 

More than 132,000 US, British and Canadian troops in nearly 7,000 ships landed on the beaches of Normandy in the biggest amphibious landing ever attempted. 

During that first day, the Allied forces were at their most vulnerable to German counterattack.

Had the Germans mounted a significant attack and the landings failed as a result, the course of the war in Europe would have been significantly altered.

A new book released to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the landings; D-Day: The First 24 Hours, describes the dramatic history of the first 24 hours of the Normandy landings and explains in detail the events that occurred in each landing zone. 

It sheds light on the airborne and glider landings that preceded the main assault, and each of the individual landings, from the slaughter of US troops at Omaha Beach, to the chaotic scattering of airborne forces throughout the French countryside, to the logistical nightmare of consolidating each bridgehead.

D-DAY: The First 24 Hours: Men of a follow-up wave landing observe the Omaha coastline with the bluffs close to the seashore. Wrecked vehicles can be seen on the beach, remnants of earlier assault waves. Already engineers are busy clearing the beach of obstacles and mines

Troops wade ashore waist-deep in water on Omaha. As predicted by Allied meteorologists, the weather improved in the afternoon and this allowed the USAAF and RAF to dominate the battlefield and prevent the Germans from reinforcing their defences

Soldiers taking cover from machine gun fire behind an M10 tank destroyer – known in British service as a ‘Wolverine’ – among the bodies of their fallen comrades

A Churchill tank crosses a seawall in England using an ARK – Armoured Ramp Carrier bridge layer. To the Germans the use by the British of ‘Funnies’ – specialized tanks for gap crossing, mine clearance or bridge laying – seemed almost profligate, but they undoubtedly saved lives

Pathfinder officers of the 22nd Independent Parachute Company at Harwell on June 5, standing in front of a C-47 waiting to take them to France. Left to right, Lieutenants Robert de Latour, Donald Wells, John Vischer and Captain Robert Medwood

Airborne troops dig in with a pickaxe at the edge of the Ranville LZ where 250 gliders landed, bringing light artillery, armoured vehicles and much needed reinforcements for the 6th Airborne Division

British Commandos give a confident thumbs-up to a combat photographer after coming ashore on Gold. The selection and training of the Commandos ensured that they were an elite, a status of which they were justly proud

The book begins with an overview of the immense preparations for the landings and the location of German forces around Normandy. 

The Allies, able to read the secret German Enigma codes and thus discover the Germans’ dispositions, were desperate to persuade the Germans that the landing would be in the Pas de Calais area north east of Normandy, and the various Allied deception plans are described.

D-Day: The First 24 Hours then gives a dedicated chapter to the airborne and glider landings that preceded the main assault, before describing each of the individual beach landings in turn, from west to east. 

Five beaches were the battlefields for the beginning of the liberation of Europe – codenamed Utah and Omaha for the US beaches, and Gold, Juno and Sword for the British and Canadian. 

Each landing operation is fully detailed, including the slaughter of US troops at Omaha beach, the chaotic scattering of airborne forces throughout the French countryside, the logistical nightmare of consolidating each bridgehead, the British and Canadian failure to push into Caen, and smaller actions such as the US Rangers scaling the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to clear German gun batteries.

D-Day: The First 24 Hours, by Will Fowler and published by Amber Books, is out now and available to buy here

British infantry and airborne troops examine a German anti-tank gun position after the landings. Though it has been hit by shell fire, the gun itself is intact and there is a slot in the concrete casemate so that it can fire along the sea front to enfilade any attackers

A grim faced General George Patton inspects a neatly turned out parade of GIs. Patton was known as a stickler for military etiquette. His presence in south-east England was given considerable publicity as part of the Allied deception plan indicating a landing on the Pas de Calais

US soldiers dash ashore from a landing craft in a training area in southern England. One man appears to be carrying a Bangalore Torpedo to breach wire obstacles. The watchtower in the background is probably for the directing staff to supervise live firing

Men and equipment are off-loaded from a US landing craft on a beach in Devon during a D-Day training exercise. The beaches of Devon were chosen for their similarity to the beaches of Normandy, with their long, sloping sands running gently into the sea

An armoured machine gun and observation post on the Atlantic Wall. Some of the defences had been taken from the French Maginot Line along France’s border with Belgium and Germany, along with obstacles built by the Belgians and Dutch in the late 1930s. Many were very effective

Laden with equipment and his parachute, a soldier of the 101st Airborne Division armed with a ‘Bazooka’ 2.36in (60mm) M1A1 anti-tank launcher boards a Douglas C-47 Skytrain. Hours later hundreds of men would be jumping out of similar doorways over Normandy

The enormous size and strength of some of the positions of the Atlantic wall can be seen in this captured gun position. The embrasure is shielded from direct fire from the sea by a massive reinforced concrete wall, but the gun can cover the beaches and deliver interlocking fire

In a display of youthful bravado, US paratroopers at an airfield in England pose with shaved heads and scalp locks. When some were captured on D-Day, their appearance prompted the Germans to liken them to the inmates of Sing Sing, the notorious US jail

American Army Air Force B-17s drop weapons containers over a rural drop zone in France in one of the post D-Day missions. Similar supply drops for the Resistance had been going on for several years. With their large bomb bays, bombers were ideal for this type of work

Following the Allied landings in June 1944, many men who had been uncommitted joined the Resistance, forming groups like this one in a French courtyard. They carry a mixture of British-supplied and captured German small arms

Cradling his Bren Light Machine Gun, a member of the French Resistance strikes a pose after D-Day. The robust reliable Bren LMG was an ideal weapon for the Resistance. Though it had a slow rate of fire, it was very forgiving of rough handling and dirt

A German crew position the camouflage net over a captured French 105 mle 1913 Schneider gun that has been sited to cover a possible landing site on the French coast. The gun could fire a 15.74kg (34.7lb) shell out to 12,000m (13,130 yards)

D-Day: The First 24 Hours, by Will Fowler and published by Amber Books, is out now and available to buy here

The elite bands of brothers who were the first troops into Normandy on D-Day

Operation Overlord saw some 156,000 Allied troops landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944.

It is thought as many as 4,400 were killed in an operation Winston Churchill described as ‘undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place’.

The assault was conducted in two phases: an airborne landing of 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 6.30am.

The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with over 160,000 troops landing. Some 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved. 

The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with over 160,000 troops landing. Some 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved.

The landings took place along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

The assault was chaotic with boats arriving at the wrong point and others getting into difficulties in the water.

Destruction in the northern French town of Carentan after the invasion in June 1944

Troops managed only to gain a small foothold on the beach – but they built on their initial breakthrough in the coming days and a harbour was opened at Omaha.

They met strong resistance from the German forces who were stationed at strongpoints along the coastline.

Approximately 10,000 allies were injured or killed, inlcuding 6,603 American, of which 2,499 were fatal.

Between 4,000 and 9,000 German troops were killed – and it proved the pivotal moment of the war, in the allied forces’ favour.

The first wave of troops from the US Army takes cover under the fire of Nazi guns in 1944

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