The Normandy Invasion, June 1944: Looking Down on War

The Normandy Invasion literally takes a different view of D-Day and just beyond, showing the well-known events using aerial photos. This is what anxiously waiting senior officers knew about progress in the early hours of 6 June 1944. The RAF and USAAF imagery used is almost entirely from long dormant U.S. Department of Defense Intelligence files. Examining the invasion scene beach-by-beach, the eyes of a trained, experienced photo interpreter uncover details a layman would certainly miss. This overview of Normandy landings and subsequent combat shows the scope and sweep of battle and helps explain why some objectives were reached, why some units forged ahead where others were stalled. We see the beaches as never before; their width at low tide; the support vessels off shore and equipment moving inland; formidable beach obstacles, and pre-invasion aerial reconnaissance. Think of this book as an adjunct to all the ground-level photos you have seen of men leaving landing craft or crouching beside sea walls – a different perspective on one of the momentous military actions of the last hundred years. Refer to this book when you read about D-Day and actually see what other authors have written about.

Colonel Roy M. Stanley II served in the USAF Intelligence for 27 years, holding positions on the Air Staff, in Pacific Air Forces, the Strategic Air Command, and with the Defense Intelligence Agency. He had assignments in Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan, and worked in Air Defense Analysis, Combat Intelligence, as Chief of an Indications Center, and was an early innovator of computer assistance to photo intelligence. His deepest interest has always been aerial photographic interpretation and this is his fourth book on the subject. He remembers his two four-year tours with the 67th RTS as some of the best, most challenging, most exciting and most rewarding duty of his career. Colonel Stanley lives near Fredericksburg, Virginia.