CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 THUNDER OVER NORMANDY CHAPTER 2 DANGEROUS TIMES DESPERATE MEASURES 14 CHAPTER 3 PLANNING THE INVASION CHAPTER 4 A WAITING GAME CHAPTER 5 THE ASSAULT BEGINS CHAPTER 6 THE FLEET ARRIVES CHAPTER 7 THE AMERICAN BEACHES CHAPTER 8 JUNO SWORD AND GOLD CHAPTER 9 THE ALLIES PREVAIL 90 TIMELINE ESSENTIAL FACTS GLOSSARY ADDITIONAL RESOURCES SOURCE NOTES 104 INDEX 110 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Towed gliders enable troops to make swift and silent landings behind enemy lines
CRAPIED THUNDER OVER NORMANDY For soldiers in World War II glider landings were always dangerous In these engineless aircraft used to silently carry troops behind enemy lines every landing was a crash landing But gliders would be critical components of the Allied invasion of Normandy France of 1944 For four years Nazi Germany in the summer had dominated the European continent Now Allied troops from the United States the United Kingdom and Canada prepared to liberate France Hundreds of thousands of troops would arrive on Normandy's beaches in landing craft on the morning of June 6 1944 the day known as D Day But hours earlier a few thousand soldiers would parachute or glide behind Nazi lines to accomplish important missions ahead of the main invasion
