In 1984, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, the British had to make a difficult choice-where to concentrate their celebration. The Americans had chosen their beaches, Omaha and Utah, and the British were tempted to do the same. They could have gone to Lion Sur Mer, near the center of Sword Beach, or to Arromanches, on Gold Beach. Arromanches would have been especially appropriate, because it was there that the British placed the artificial harbors, built at tremendous cost by British industry and representing a triumph of British imagination, technology, and productivity.

...

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, a small detachment of British airborne troops stormed the German defense forces and paved the way for the Allied invasion of Europe. Pegasus Bridge was the first engagement of D-Day,the turning point War II.  

This gripping account by acclaimed historian Stephen E. Ambrose brings to life a daring mission so crucial that, had it been unsuccessful, the entire Normandy invasion might have failed. Ambrose traces each step of the preparations over many months to the minute-by-minute excitement of the hand-to-hand confrontations on the bridge. This is a story of heroism and cowardice, kindness and brutality--the stuffofgreat history.

Preface

1. D-Day: 0000 to 0015 Hours

2. D-Day Minus Two Years

3. D-Day Minus One Year to D-Day

Minus One Month

4. D-Day Minus One Month to D-Day

5. D-Day: 0016 to 0026 Hours

6. D-Day: 0026 to 0600 Hours

7. D-Day: 0600 to 1200 Hours

8. D-Day: 1200 to 2400 Hours

9. D-Day Plus One to D-Day Plus Ninety

10. D-Day Plus Three Months to D-Day

Plus Fifty Years

11. D-Day Plus Forty Years to D-Day

Plus Fifty Years

Epilogue. The Significance of Pegasus

Bridge

Appendix. Poett's Orders to Howard

Acknowledgments

Sources

Index