Spearheading D-Day: American Special Units, 6 June, 1944

didn't buy this book earlier!!! Absolutely top notch history of the special sea-bourne American units at Normandy. Maps & photos and narrative all combine into an informative and captivating tale. Even if you are a D-Day buff with a large reference library, you will learn much from this excellent edition. It seems pricey, but it is worth all of it & more. You will not regret getting this one!I hope this sets a pattern for books about the British & Canadian units and their efforts and successes that day. When you realise the scope of just the American beach landings, you will see the huge, multi-volume collection that would be needed to address *all* the units involved. Buy it and and spend some time with it.

This is the most complete, most carefully researched, and most beautifully produced book about the D-Day landings that I have ever seen. Anybody who wants detailed and accurate information on these landings needs this book. Period.

Ever wonder what the difference is between an LCI, LCM, LCVP, or LST? All these mysteries and a host of others are clearly explained with charts, maps color graphics, etc. Equipment and D-Day organization of all amphibious elements including Naval Beach battalions, Amphibious Engineers, Rangers and Infantry are depicted along with their equipment and objectives. Suffice it to say I learned more in one hour of perusing this book than in four decades of reading other books on D-Day. Although the author chose not to write about the Airborne landings, I even found obscure details pertaining to the 101st (thrown in as incidentals by the author) which I didn't know about-and Airborne is my specialty. Don't miss this valuable book-it's every bit as important as The Longest Day. From Mark Bando, author of The 101st Airborne at Normandy and Breakout At Normandy.

I thought that I had read just about all there is to read about D-Day, but this book is crammed full of completely new information that really brings the events of the 6th of June 1944 to life. Jonathan Gwane is to be congratulated and I look forward to his next work.

Jon's book is a invaluable campanion to all the other books on D-Day in my library. It blends a wealth of information from the Assault troops to the Beach battalions to gear information into one excellent volume. I didnt realize how lengthy and informative the book was until it arrived at my home. Thank you Jon for a job well done on the little known aspects of D-Day.