The Normandy Battlefields: D-Day & the Bridgehead(WWII Historic Battlefields)

An overview of the Normandy battlefields: maps old and new highlight what has survived and what hasn't; then and now photography allows fascinating comparisons with the images taken at the time-particularly the aerial views; and computer artwork provides graphic details of things that can't be seen today. With their 70th anniversary just around the corner, the D-Day landings have lost none of their impact. Even today the vestiges of Hitler's Atlantic Wall speak of the huge undertaking necessary for the Allies to gain a foothold in Normandy. In this beautiful new full-colour book, the reader goes "on-site" to the sacred battleground from its scarred medieval villages to the remains of modern means of destruction. The huge armada that attacked from Britain left behind many signs of their passage: from the huge caissons of the mulberry harbor around Arromanches, the gun emplacements at Longues and Merville, to the multitude of hardware used as memorials-tanks, artillery, pillboxes-and the many graves and cemeteries that honour those who died on both sides. It is in memory of the dead that much of what can be seen on the ground survives, but as the last few survivors reach their 90s, a new audience requires information about the events of the past that can only come from seeing the ground where the battle was fought. Today, the beaches are a fascinating mixture of the new and the old, including the new visitors' centre at Colleville and the renovation and expansion of the Utah Beach museum-even as further new memorials jostle with the older sites that have changed little in 70 years. 'The Normandy Battlefields' details what can be seen on the ground today using a mixture of media to provide a complete overview of the campaign. Maps old and new highlight what has survived and what hasn't; then-and-now photography allows fascinating comparisons with the images taken at the time-particularly the aerial views-and computer artwork provides graphic details of things that can't be seen today. The book describes the area from Cherbourg to Le Havre by way of the key D-Day locations, providing a handbook for the visitor and an overview for the armchair traveller. It covers, wherever possible, the forces from both sides and the memorials to those young men who fought so many years ago. Colour illustrations

About the Author :
Leo Marriott is a retired Air Traffic Controller who has had more than thirty books published on his specialist subjects: naval warfare and aviation. He is an experienced pilot and accomplished aerial photographer, and his work is featured in this book. Simon Forty was educated in Dorset and the north of England before reading history at London University's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He has been involved in publishing since the mid-1970s, first as editor and latterly as author. Son of author and RAC Tank Museum curator, George Forty, he has continued in the family tradition writing mainly on historical and military subjects. Amongst other books, he is the author of The German Infantryman on the Eastern Front (with Richard Charlton Taylor, 2023) and Red Army into the Reich (with Nik Cornish, 2021), both published by Casemate, and has co-authored a range of highly illustrated books on the Normandy battlefields, the Atlantic Wall and the liberation of the Low Countries.

Review :
A particular aspect of the book that is worthy of note is the photograph captions. A concerted effort has been made to identify not only locations, but also the individuals contained within well known photos - including in some cases their fate, during the battle for Normandy. Many famous photographs are employed but the real selling point for the book is the modern aerial views, which are superb. The maps are also clear and precise. The Old Front Line by Stephen Bull and The Normandy Battlefields by Leo Marriott & Simon Forty are absolutely superb guides to some of the most important battlefields of the two world wars in Europe. Both of them are books I wish I had written and illustrated. A photographic history of the D-Day beaches really needs to have something unusual about it to stand out in a crowded market. In this case the main selling point is the good combination of wartime and modern photos. The most effective of the modern photos are a series of aerial photographs, each showing key parts of the battlefield, and with modern war memorials marked. These give a much clearer idea of the layout of the battlefield than the more familiar ground level photos, and are of great interest. The presentation of the book is first class, the maps especially. It is a fitting tribute to the men who took part in the D-Day landings, and I recommend it.