D-Day 1944: Utah Beach (Praeger Illustrated Military History) [Hardcover]

Steven J. Zaloga (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004 | ISBN-10: 0275982688 | ISBN-13: 978-0275982683 | Edition: First

The D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. During the late spring and early summer of 1944 the roads and ports of southern England were thronged with the troops, vehicles, and ships of the invasion force. The greatest armada the world had ever seen had been assembled to transport U.S. 1st Army and British 2nd Army across the narrow strip of the Channel and open the long-awaited second front against Hitler's Third Reich. This book reveals the events of this single day on Utah beach, one of the two U.S. landings. The western flank of the D-Day beachhead was to be secured by the combined methods of a landing on by U.S. 4th Inf. Div. on Omaha Beach at the neck of the Contentin peninsula and the seizure of key locations by the air assault of the 82nd Airborne Division The All Americans and the 101st Airborne Division The Screaming Eagles. In the confusion of the air assault many of the paratroopers overshot their landing zones or were simply dropped in the wrong place. Some landed miles from their targets and others landed amongst a hornet's nest of German troops. Gradually small groups of men assembled and with those weapons available made for their objectives. At St. Mere Eglise, Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne fought house to house against the German 919th Infantry Regiment. At 6: 30 a.m., exactly on schedule men of the 4th U.S. Infantry division waded ashore at Omaha Beach. Only it was not Omaha Beach, confused by the smoke the coxswains of the landing craft had hit the beaches 2,000 yards south of Omaha Beach. Their commander, Brigadier-General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., made the instant decision to designate this spot as the landingarea. The rest of the assault troops were landed supported by DD Swimming Tanks. By the afternoon of June 6 more than 21,000 men were ashore at Utah. Before nightfall they had linked up with the Airborne forces and the beachhead was five miles deep and controlled the main arterial road from Carentan to St Mere Eglise. The 4th Infantry Divisions casualties were 197 men. The Landings at Utah, starting from the wrong place, had been a success.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers; First edition (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275982688
• ISBN-13: 978-0275982683
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,752,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven Zaloga is a senior analyst for Teal Group Corp., an aerospace consulting firm. His professional specialization is the commercial and technological aspects of the international trade in missiles, precision guided munitions, and unmanned aerial vehicles. He also serves as an adjunct staff member with the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federal think-tank.

Mr. Zaloga has published numerous books and articles on military technology and military history. His books have been translated into Japanese, German, Polish, Czech, Romanian, and Russian. He has been a special correspondent for "Jane's Intelligence Review" and is on the executive board of the "Journal of Slavic Military Studies". From 1987 through 1992, he was the writer/director for Video Ordnance Inc., preparing their TV series "Firepower" that aired on The Discovery Channel in the US.

Mr. Zaloga was born in 1952 and received his BA in history from Union College, Schenectady, NY. He received an MA in history from Columbia University specializing in modern East European history, and did graduate research and language study at Uniwersitet Jagiellonski in Krakow, Poland.