Operation Neptune 1944

After many delays, the Western Allies set June 6th 1944 as the date to start the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi tyranny. The Normandy landings grand campaign name was Op. Overlord, which included all components, especially the ground, air and naval forces. This book covers the codenamed Operation Neptune which was the naval component in the Normandy campaign, it task was to bombard the beaches and enemy defenses prior to the landings, carry five divisions across the Channel and put them ashore on D-Day itself and to build up these forces (and subsequent ones) at a steady rate over the following weeks to keep them moving until major ports were captured and put into service. Also covered briefly in this book is the transportation and erection of two artificial harbours (Mulberry's) and a number of underwater pipelines (PLUTO), which were two unprecedented engineering achievements. The D-Day invasion fleet, which was drawn from eight different navies, comprised almost 7.000 vessels, and some 195,700 naval personnel involved. It was the biggest naval operation in history. The book covers the commanders, forces and plans of each side, although in this campaign, the German side in those chapters is almost irrelevant. Then the book explains how the Allies assembled this gargantuan fleet and all the naval action in D-Day in a satisfactory level of detail. Lastly the book covers (briefly) the naval operations in the days and weeks after D-Day. I love the maps in this book, they are very clear, also as usual 3D Birds eye views, nice illustrations and the order of battle of each side. The author Ken Ford bring us a very interesting part of the Normandy campaign that is generally overlooked. Highly recommended.