In any military operation throughout history, few 24-hour periods have been as crucial as that of 6th June 1944. With the aid of specially commissioned maps, D-Day: The First 24 Hours gives the dramatic history of the first 24 hours of the Normandy landings, and explains in detail the events that occurred in each landing zone. Each landing operation is fully detailed, including the slaughter of US troops in Omaha beach, the chaotic scattering of airborne forces throughout the French countryside, the logistical nightmare of consolidating each bridgehead, and smaller actions such as the US Rangers scaling the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to clear German gun batteries.