D-Day Landings 1st 2024 BRADT

Published to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the military mission that changed World War II, D-Day Landings: a Travel Guide to Normandy’s Beaches and Battlegrounds is Bradt’s new guidebook to visiting beaches, memorials, museums, battlefields and other sites associated with D-Day and the Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord). A simple-to-follow, portable guide for independent travellers, it includes maps and driving instructions to help visitors go back in time to explore World War II history.
Written by two experienced travel writers who, between them, are experts in France and military history, D-Day Landings is designed for visitors who want to see all or part of Normandy. Covering the ground from the D-Day landing beaches (Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah) up to the Falaise Gap and Cherbourg, it encompasses both every major site and a host of smaller, less well-known locations – venturing well beyond the coast to include sites associated with the capture of Cherbourg (D+20) and the closing of the Falaise Gap (D+76), which marked the end of the Overlord campaign.
The book is organised geographically in a lawnmower pattern along the landing beaches and then back again through the inland battlefield locations, encouraging readers to explore the less well-known but critically important Battle of Normandy sites. D-Day Landings also uncovers unexpected features such as a ‘concrete panzer’ pillbox topped by a tank turret around which Utah Beach Museum was constructed.
Quirky snippets and human stories colour the text. Learn how Lord Lovat’s Commando Piper Bill saw himself as a ballerina or how the Utah Beach landings were accidentally more successful than planned. Meanwhile, children and adults alike will love the ‘history-spotter’ tick-boxes, such as ten Advanced Landing Ground site plaques to tick off.
Whether you are a military-history enthusiast, have family who fought in Normandy or are simply visiting northern France on holiday, Bradt’s D-Day Landings is the guidebook to both plan your trip and take with you.