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This is the first of two volumes in the Battlefield Normandy series devoted to the exploits of the 6th Airborne Division (split from an original single volume). The book thus starts with a look at the Allied invasion plans and the German defences they were designed to overcome, before providing five guided tours - three of the battlefields themselves and two of the memorials in the area.
The battlefield tours are organised quite logically, with one each for Pegasus Bridge and Horsa Bridge and a third looking at the German counter-attacks and Allied reinforcements. The memorial tours include a visit to the Memorial Pegasus Park, built around the original Pegasus Bridge which was replaced when the Caen Canal was widened, and to the Ranville CWGC Cemetery, where many of the airborne troops lost in the area are buried.
The tours are written as a mix of a narrative account of the fighting, well supported by eye witness accounts, mixed with the tour details - instructions and explanations of what can still be seen on the ground. This is an interesting approach and gives the book more value to the general reader than with some other tour guides.
Chapters
1 - Planning the Invasion
2 - The German Defences in Normandy
3 - Battlefield Tour 1: Pegasus Bridge
4 - Battlefield Tour 2: Horsa Bridge
5 - Battlefield Tour 3: Counter-attack and Reinforcements
6 - Memorial Tour 1: Pegasus Bridge-Horsa Bridge
7 - Memorial Tour 2: Ranville
Author: Carl Shilleto
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 192
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2010 revised edition