Anyone interested in reading military history sooner or later comes around to The Longest Day and Cornelius Ryan, known to his friends as Connie.

Normandy Invasion

The Longest Day and Other Books by Cornelius “Connie” Ryan

Brooke Stoddard

Throughout his career, Cornelius “Connie” Ryan wrote a number of stunning books on World War II: The Last Battle, about the struggle for Berlin; A Bridge Too Far, about the ill-fated race to cross the Rhine bridge at Arnhem in 1944; and, of course, the book with which his fame will always be linked, The Longest Day. Read more

If the Allies did not secure a strong foothold on D-Day, Eisenhower would have been forced to make public the message he drafted for such an occasion.

Normandy Invasion

What if the D-Day Invasion Had Failed?

The Normandy Invasion (code-named Operation Neptune) was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of armed conflict. It combined efforts from nearly 290 escort vessels, 5,000 landing and assult craft, and 160,000 troops. Read more

Around 3 AM on June 6, Vierville-sur-Mer locals awoke to the sound of U.S. Liberator bombers preparing the beach for the largest invasion in history.

Normandy Invasion

Vierville Civilians Recall Allied Pre-Invasion Bombings

by Kevin Hymel

The townspeople of Vierville-sur-Mer awoke around 3 am on June 6, 1944, to the sound of bombs. In the early morning of the Normandy Invasion, American Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers were dropping their payloads, preparing the invasion beaches for the coming attack. Read more

In August 1944, the Allies followed up the massive Normandy Invasion with another in southern France known as Operation Dragoon.

Normandy Invasion

Rampage on the Riviera: Operation Dragoon

By Glenn Barnette and André Bernole

Early in 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the defeated hero of North Africa and now head of Army Group B in France, was tasked with strengthening the Atlantic Wall defenses against Allied invasion. Read more

Normandy Invasion

Smashing Hitler’s Atlantic Wall

By Flint Whitlock

After overrunning France and other Western European countries in 1940, Adolf Hitler was certain that the Allies would one day attempt to invade the European continent and attack through the occupied countries to destroy his regime. Read more

Normandy Invasion

Operation Jericho

by Joseph M. Horodyski

On the bitterly cold, windswept morning of February 18, 1944, the crews of 19 De Havilland Mosquito Mk.VI Read more