Neptune
CampaignsMilitary planningWorld War, 1939-1945Naval operationsOperation Neptune
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Open LibraryAbout this book
"On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along 50 miles of French coastline to battle German forces on the beaches of Normandy. D-Day, as it would come to be known, would eventually lead to the liberation of Western Europe, and was a critical step in the road to victory in World War II. Yet the story begins long before the Higgins landing craft opened their doors and men spilled out onto the beaches to face a storm of German bullets. The invasion, and the victories that followed, would not have been possible without the massive naval operation that led up to it: Neptune. From the moment British forces evacuated the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940, Allied planners began to consider how, when, and where they would re-enter the European continent. Once in the war, the Americans, led by George Marshall, wanted to invade in a year's time. The British were convinced this would be a tragic mistake. Allied forces would be decimated by the Wehrmacht. When Operation Overlord -- the name given to the cross-Channel invasion of Northern France -- was finally planned, it was done so only in concert with the seaborne assault that would bring the men and equipment to the Normandy coast. 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. He considers Neptune's various components, including the strategic unity, industrial productivity, organizational execution, and cross…
Themes & subjects
CampaignsMilitary planningWorld War, 1939-1945Naval operationsOperation NeptuneHistory
Setting
NormandyFrance20th century
About the author
Craig L. Symonds
31 Dec 1946
Craig Lee Symonds (born 31 December 1946, in Long Beach, California) is a distinguished historian of the American Civil War and maritime history. His book *Lincoln and His Admirals* received the Lincoln Prize. His book *Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings* was the 2015 recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature.
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