6th Airborne

by Leo Marriott and Simon Forty

Published 31 October 2016
Operation Tonga began at 22:56 on the night of 5 June, when six Halifax heavy bombers took off from Tarrant Rushton towing six Horsas carrying a coup–de–main force consisting of D Coy, Ox and Bucks LI reinforced with two extra platoons from B Coy and a party of sappers,...Read more

101st Airborne

by Stephen Smith and Simon Forty

Published 12 October 2016
After its operations in the Cotentin and around Carentan, the 101st was withdrawn from the lines in late June and sailed back to England on LSTs in July. After several false alerts, they invaded by air again into the Netherlands on September 17, 1944, part of the airborne element...Read more

Omaha Beach

by Leo Marriott and Simon Forty

Published 12 October 2016
Of the five beaches attacked on 6 June, Omaha saw the sternest fighting. Well-placed defenders on the high ground and extensive beach defenses did their job. On top of this, so much had gone wrong with the first wave: many of the amphibious DD Sherman tanks didn’t reach the...Read more

Bastogne

by Stephen Smith and Simon Forty

Published 12 October 2016
Bastogne will live forever in the annals of American military history. From the resounding 'Nuts', in response to the German demand for surrender, to the breaking of the siege by Patton’s Third Army – brilliantly disengaged from its positions on the Saar, wheeled 90 degrees and marched northwards faster...Read more

The Falaise Gap Battles

by Simon Forty and Leo Marriott

Published 19 August 2017
The denouement of the battle of Normandy, the fighting around Falaise and Chambois in August 1944 and the pursuit of the retreating German armies to the Seine provided the Allies with an immense victory. After ten weeks of hard attritional fighting, the Allies had broken loose from the bocage...Read more

82nd Airborne

by Stephen Smith and Simon Forty

Published 19 August 2017

1st Airborne

by Simon Forty and Tom Timmermans

Published 19 August 2017
While the 6th Airborne Division had landed in France on D-Day and covered itself in glory, its counterpart, the 1st Airborne Division, had last seen action during an amphibious assault at Taranto on September 9, 1943, as part of the invasion of Italy. Returned to the UK in December...Read more

Leibstandarte

by Stephen Smith and Simon Forty

Published 19 August 2017