German defenses along the Normandy beaches were part of the larger Atlantic Wall fortifications designed to defend Fortress Europe. When Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took command of the invasion front in late 1943, he began a program to enhance fortifications along the Normandy coast as he believed that any Allied assault had to be stopped on the invasion beaches themselves. His most important contribution to the defenses was an extensive program of improvised beach obstructions to complicate any landing attempt. This book analyses these fortifications and describes how the Allied forces overcame them on the morning of June 6, 1944.

From the scaling of Pointe-du-Hoc and the assault on Pegasus Bridge, to the landings on the Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches, this new Campaign Book for Bolt Action allows players to take command of the Allied Forces or those of the defending Axis. Featuring new linked scenarios, rules, troop types, and Theatre Selectors, this volume provides plenty of options for both novice and veteran players looking to recreate these famous battles and begin the liberation of Europe.

Germany's Atlantic Wall was the most ambitious military fortification program of World War II. With Germany's gradual loss of the strategic initiative to the Allies, in 1942 Hitler was forced to construct an impenetrable wall of fortifications along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast. This book deals solely with the structures on the French coast, starting with the Pas-de-Calais and extending down to Spain. It features detailed illustrations and diagrams of the various sections of the Atlantic Wall and the role that they played, giving a thoughtful analysis of some of the most accessible fortifications of World War II.

The Normandy landings of 6 June 1944, across five sectors of the French coast - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword - constituted the largest amphibious invasion in history. This study analyses in depth the preparations and implementation of the D-Day landing on Gold Beach by XXX Corps. Historians have tended to dismiss the landing on Gold Beach as straightforward but the evidence points to a different reality. Armour supported the infantry landing and prior bombing was intended to weaken German defences; however, the bulk of the bombing landed too far inland, and many craft foundered in difficult conditions at sea. It was the tenacity of the assault units and the flexibility of the follow up units which enabled the Gold landing to secure the right flank of the British Army in Normandy. Using detailed primary evidence from The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum, this volume provides a substantial assessment of the background to the landing on Gold, and analyses the events of D-Day in the wider context of the Normandy Campaign.

A WWII historian takes readers inside the day-to-day drama of Nazi military commanders in occupied Europe as they brace for the Allied invasion. In December of 1943, with Allied forces planning to invade Fortress Europe, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is named General Inspector of the Atlantic Wall. His mission is to assess their readiness, and what he finds disgusts him. The famed Atlantikwall is nothing but a paper tiger, woefully unprepared for the forces being massed across the English Channel. His task—to turn back the Allied invasion—already seems hopeless. The crust old theater commander, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, awaits the inevitable defeat from a plush villa outside Paris. The corps commander on the ground in Normandy attempts to fulfill Rommel’s demands, but supplies are woefully inadequate. Meanwhile, all focus is on defending the coastline at Calais—the area that High Command believes to be the Allies’ most likely objective. All of the Western Theater commanders are subject to the whims of Adolf Hitler, hundreds of miles away and issuing orders that are increasingly divorced from the reality of the war. Countdown to D-Day takes a detailed day-to-day journal approach tracing the daily activities and machinations of the German High Command as they try to prepare for the Allied invasion.

Published in partnership with the National Archives, D-Day Documents is a commemorative collection of previously unpublished documents marking the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings. This unprecedented book contains not only 21st Army Group intelligence reports on 'Omaha' Beach, RAF Photographic Reconnaissance prints and the ship's log of HMS Warspite but various other important official documents covering different aspects of Operations Neptune and Overlord. Crucially, this single volume brings together for the first time the war diary entries of all Anglo-Canadian 'spear-head' units and regiments who landed in France on 6 June 1944. A unique publication, which celebrates one of the most momentous days in modern military history, D-Day Documents will fascinate anyone with an interest in the Second World War, as well as offering an invaluable primary source for military historians.

An illustrated study of the little-known history of the failed Allied bombing campaign designed to shatter German defenses on D-Day. D-Day is one of the most written-about events in military history. One aspect of the invasion, however, continues to be ignored: the massive pre-assault bombardment by the Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF), reinforced by RAF Bomber Command and the US Eighth Air Force on June 6 which sought to neutralize the German defenses along the Atlantic Wall. Unfortunately, this failed series of attacks resulted in death or injury to hundreds of soldiers, and killed many French civilians. Despite an initial successful attack performed by the Allied forces, the most crucial phase of the operation, which was the assault from the Eighth Air Force against the defenses along the Calvados coast, was disastrous. The bombers missed almost all of their targets, inflicting little damage to the German defenses, which resulted in a high number of casualties among the Allied infantry. The primary cause of this failure was that planners at Eighth Air Force Headquarters had changed aircraft drop times at the last moment, to prevent casualties amongst the landing forces, without notifying either Eisenhower or Doolittle. This book examines this generally overlooked event in detail, answering several fundamental questions: What was the AEAF supposed to accomplish along the Atlantic Wall on D-Day and why did it not achieve its bombardment objectives? Offering a new perspective on a little-known air campaign, it is packed with illustrations, maps and diagrams exploring in detail the features and ramifications of this mission.

Part of a trilogy covering the last year of fighting in the European theater of World War II, and in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Sand and Steel gives us the full story of the Allied invasion of France.

This highly informative book begins with an examination of the background to Germany's primary military objectives in relation to the western end of their self-styled 'Fortress Europe' including the early foundation of shore defences in northern France.??In 1941, there was a switch in emphasis of the Atlantic Wall's role from attack to defence. Beach defences became more elaborate and the Nazi-controlled Todt Organisation began a massive building programme constructing new bunkers and reinforcing existing sites, using forced labour.??Hitler appointed Rommel to formulate Germany's anti-invasion plans in early 1944. At the same time the Allies were making extensive studies of the fortifications and preparing for the challenge of overcoming this most formidable of obstacles.??Using, in many cases, previously unpublished accounts of the soldiers on the ground this book follows Britain's 79th Armoured Division, Sir Percy Hobart's 'Funnies', as they utilised their unique weaponry in support of Allied efforts to ensure the success of the invasion. The author draws on British, American, Canadian and German sources.??Hitler's Atlantic Wall – Normandy also includes information on war cemeteries along with travel information and accommodation suggestions and a guide to the relevant museums.

Various papers on the archaeology of conflict, including battlefield archaeology. The main focus of the volume is confinement, as expressed by a wide variety of contexts. Most obviously these include Nazi concentration camps, which are in need of credible archaeological attention (the editorial points out the dangers of the misappropriation of archaeological and scientific techniques by Holocaust deniers). Other forms of confinement are examined in papers focussing on the archaeology of island defences and siege sites, with the sieges of Leith from 1650 and of Fort William from 1646 both recently being subject to archaeological investigation. Other contributions include a study of shell holes and field defences from the battle of the Bulge (1944).