TABLE OF CONTENTS COVER ALLIES PERSPECTIVE CHAPTER 1 PLANNING AN INVASION CHAPTER 2 APPROACHING D DAY CHAPTER 3 INVADING NORMANDY CHAPTER 4 AFTER D DAY INDEX GERMAN PERSPECTIVE CHAPTER 1 DEFENDING OCCUPIED LAND CHAPTER 2 PREPARING FOR THE INVASION CHAPTER 3 THE ENEMY ARRIVES CHAPTER 4 THE DIRECTION OF HISTORY INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR SOURCE NOTES GLOSSARY INTERNET SITES TIMELINE SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY FURTHER READING CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS COPYRIGHT BACK COVER
CHAPTER 1 PLANNING AN INVASION With a storm tossing the seas a tiny British submarine came to the water's surface off the coast of Normandy France It was late evening on June 5 1944 and the minisub's five man crew was tuning its radio to receive a coded message The sub called X23 was so small that the men had to take turns sleeping in its two bunks They also worried if the bottles of oxygen that helped keep them alive would last until they completed their mission The sailors
waited to hear if they were going to take part in the largest amphibious assault ever attempted The captain of an X class minisub stands on deck giving orders to the crew just three weeks before the D Day invasion Minisubs played a key role in the attack The radio message came through the attack was on X23 returned below the water's surface to avoid being detected by German ships or soldiers on land In the late 1930s Germany had invaded large parts of Europe including France The amphibious
assault planned for Normandy was designed to push the Germans out of the lands they had conquered and bring an end to World War II 1939 1945 The crew of X23 and another British minisub waited throughout the night They had orders to surface again early on the morning of June 6 At that time they would help guide British troops and tanks ashore playing a key role in what the world knows today as D Day A DREAM OF CONQUEST World War II had started with Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1 1939 German Chancellor Adolf Hitler had several goals in mind when he sent troops there and into other European
