D-Day: Over 100 Maps Reveal How D-Day Landings Unfolded

by Peter Chasseaud, Richard Harper

Follow the D-Day landings through a unique collection of historical maps, expert commentary, and photographs Written by a historian of military cartography, this is a unique insight into D-Day landings 70 years later. Along with the maps, key historical events are described, giving a plotted history the D-Day landings from an expert historian. Starting with a summary of World War II up to 1944, the book then covers deception schemes, terrain, intelligence, reconnaissance, and mapping. It discusses Operation naval and air bombardments and the assault landings, and Operation establishing the beachheads. The final chapter discusses the break-out, German unconditional surrender; and VE Day.

Genres: History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Peter Chasseaud is a British historian specializing in military cartography. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the Royal United Services Institute. He also founded the Historical Military Mapping Group within the British Cartographic Society. His book Mapping the First World War showcases rare and previously unpublished maps from the 1914–1918 conflict, offering a detailed visual insight into the Great War.

Reviews

[Chris Shepheard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but the format is sadly too small to do full justice to the excellent maps.

[R L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Djfchuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting over view of D-Day and the push to Berlin. Very good pictures, and was somewhat interesting to base parts of the books on Maps, although it was only really handled in one small chapter, which was a bit technical and boring in terms of maps themselves. That being said, the overall approach using maps to high light the lead up to D-Day and the landings was fascinating. The most interesting parts were the deception and how spying actually worked, in terms of fooling the Germans of where the initial landings would take place, the luck involved with the weather, the lack of German Aerial support, and poor decisions by the German generals that avoided a stalemate and led to the collapse of the third Reich.

[Phil Toop · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives both a good review of the D-Day operation and the path through to the end of the war, along with what I found to be interesting detail on the mapping operation and the importance of this on the overall war effort. Richly illustrated, it makes for a relatively light read.