The Normandy Landings of 6 June 1944 were a major and decisive episode of the Second World War and have been, for more than sixty years, the object of countless books, films, investigations, reports and television series. However, is it known that D-Day was preceded by, on 27 April 1944, a tragic rehearsal that resulted in over nine-hundred deaths and which remained a secret for decades? Is it known that the beautiful Lily Sergueiev, an artist and great traveller, was considered by the Allies as their best disinformation agent and by the Germans as their most efficient agent in Great Britain? Or is it known that Lionel Crabb, the Royal Navy's star frogman, was the inspiration for Ian Fleming's character, James Bond? Is it known that the Germans' favourite song Lili Marlene, was also very popular with the allied soldiers? These are some of the surprising revelations contained in this book which is both original and informative, based on over half a century of research undertaken by Philippe Bauduin and which casts a new light on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Fascinated by new technology that he discovered during the summer of 1944, a time when he was still a teenager, Philippe Bauduin went on to undertake a scientific career which notably led him to set up the GANIL in Caen (Large Heavy Ion National Accelerator). He is the author of seventeen books and numerous articles on various aspects of the Landings. Jean-Charles Stasi has worked as a journalist since 1985 and is the author of twenty books, most of which deal with the Second World War. He was awarded the Prix Grand Témoin 2007 and the Grand Prix de la Légion d'Honneur 2008 for his book L'Épopée du Normandie-Niémen, co-written with Roland de la Poype.
An illustrated history of the World War II British amphibious attack on a dry dock in the German-occupied French town. At the beginning of 1942, the prospect of Germany’s Tirpitz, the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy, patrolling the Atlantic posed a huge threat to the convoys that were the lifeline for Britain. Bombing raids to destroy the ship failed. A more radical plan was conceived to destroy the dry-dock facility at St Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast. Without the use of the only suitable base for the ship, the threat would be neutralized. The plan was to ram the entrance gates with a ship packed with explosives on a delayed fuse. A motorboat armed with torpedoes would fire at the inner gate causing further damage to submarine pens. The troops and crew would then destroy as many dockyard targets as they could and withdraw in fast motor launches that had followed them in. All this was to be achieved under cover of an air raid. HMS Campbeltown, a U.S. lend-lease destroyer, was chosen for the task. On the night of March 27, the raid commenced. The Campbeltown succeeded in lodging its bows in the outer gates. The fuses detonated the explosives in its hold the following day. The dock gates were destroyed. The cost to the Allies was high, but the Tirpitz was never able to leave Norwegian waters. This volume in the Casemate Illustrated series gives a clear overview of the planning and execution of the raid and its aftermath, accompanied by 125 photographs and images, including color profiles and maps.
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