6th Airborne: Normandy 1944 (Past & Present) - Softcover

Marriott, Leo; Forty, Simon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1612004210 ISBN 13: 9781612004211

Publisher: Casemate, 2016

Synopsis

The Past & Present Series reconstructs historical battles by using photography, juxtaposing modern views with those of the past. It shows how much infastructure has remained and points to the passing nature of things such as outfits, uniforms, and ephemera.

Operation Tonga began at 22:56 on the night of 5 June, when six Halifax heavy bombers took off from Tarrant Rushton towing six Horsas carrying a coup-de-main force consisting of D Coy, Ox and Bucks LI reinforced with two extra platoons from B Coy and a party of sappers, who were tasked with capturing the bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne. 6th Airborne Division—which included 1st Canadian Para Bn—had been allotted three specific tasks to achieve, apart from protecting the eastern flank of the Allied seaborne landings. First, it was to capture intact the two bridges over the Caen Canal and the Orne River at Benouville and Ranville. Second, the division was to destroy the heavily fortified Merville coastal artillery battery located at Franceville Plage, to ensure that it could not shell the British forces landing on Sword Beach. A third task was to destroy several bridges spanning the River Dives—at Varaville, Robehomme, Bures, and Troarn. The division would then hold the territory that it had seized until it could be relieved by advancing Allied ground forces.

About this title

About the Author:

Leo Marriott has written numerous books on aviation, naval and military subjects including Treaty Cruisers, Catapult Aircraft, Jets at Sea and Early Jet Fighters: British and American 1944-1954. He is now retired after a fifty-year career as an air traffic controller but still maintains his pilot’s licence flying a syndicate-owned Cessna 172. Apart from aviation and naval history, his other interests include sailing, photography and painting.

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 including books on the Napoleonic Wars and the two world wars. Recently he has produced a range of highly illustrated books on the Normandy battlefields, the Atlantic Wall and the liberation of the Low Countries with co-author Leo Marriott.

Review:

"...lavishly illustrated...good value for money and are recommended.” (Casemate: Journal of the Fortress Study Group)

“These books are great for all ages but the younger me would have loved them and each volume is an ideal present for the history mad youth in your family.” (War History Online)

About this edition

• Publisher: Casemate
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1612004210
• ISBN 13: 9781612004211
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64