Bringing History to Life Magazine

26 June 2024

“The eyes of the world are upon you” General Dwight D Eisenhower in his final message to Allied soldiers before D-Day. These were the words of the leader of the invasion force that, on 6th June 1944, headed for five beaches in Normandy to begin the liberation of Western Europe from German occupation. 156,000 soldiers were to be dropped behind German lines or landed on beaches where battle-hardened German machine gunners lay ready to unleash hell. This is the story of perhaps the most decisive day in world history, told by eyewitnesses: the British, US and German soldiers who experienced first-hand the fierce fighting on D-Day and in the days that followed.