Paru le 19/06/2014 | Broché 144 pages
Tout public
cartes Yann Magdelaine
Airborne operations on d-day
170 color photographs
2 maps
Sainte-Mère-Église, Pegasus Bridge, the Merville Battery... these names are part and parcel of the historic Normandy Landings and the events of June 6 1944. Already well known, these events receive a fresh perspective from the pen of Benoît Rondeau. While these battles are usually studied in separate books, the author covers all the Allied airborne opérations on June 5 and 6,1944. The author has been careful to present a lively account of the facts, with many eye-witness accounts and anecdotes. Equipment and uniforms are also introduced. Distinguishing itself from many previous works, he concentrates particularly on the D-Day préparations and the development of the Opération Overlord airborne missions. How were the men prepared? How were the objectives chosen? What are the imperatives of any airborne opération? Benoît Rondeau answers all these questions, so often ignored. The author completes his study by counting the cost of these actions for the 6th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. A welcome overview, which throws light on a major episode in 'The Longest Day'.
Benoît Rondeau was born in Caen in 1973. Before starting his career as a history and geography teacher, he spent three years as a researcher at the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation (Foundation for the Memory of the Déportation). He has published La Grande Guerre au Moyen-Orient (Espace Publication, Beirut, 2009). He is co-author of the Dictionnaire du Débarquement (Editions Ouest-France, 2011) edited by Claude Quétel. Fascinated by the desert war, he published Afrikakorps, l'armée de Rommel (Editions Taillandier, 2013). He also published Invasion ! Le Débarquement vécu par les Allemands (Editions Tallandier, 2014). He contributes to the magazines 2e Guerre Mondiale and Batailles et Blindés. Benoît Rondeau is particularly interested in the Second World War, and has also published a book on Les Opérations aéroportées du Débarquement (Editions Ouest-France).
