The D-Day Landings could not have happened without over 4,000 Allied landing craft and ships, and their crews. This book explains who they all were. The contribution of landing craft and their crews to the 1944 Normandy campaign was enormous but is often overlooked. Most of the more than 132,000 Allied troops who landed on the beaches on D-Day came ashore from landing craft. The book examines why so many different types of landing craft were used in the operation; how they were built in both the UK and North America, over several years and with many competing war production requirements and operational needs. Consequently, their availability and production was regularly of concern to the top Allied leaders. This account is essential to anyone who wants to fully understand the course of D-Day, and the nature of Allied preparations for the campaign. AUTHOR: Andrew Whitmarsh has worked as a curator in military history museums for over 25 years, and since 2001 as the curator of The D-Day Story (until 2018, known as the D-Day Museum) in Portsmouth. He has written a number of articles and two books for The History Press, Portsmouth at War and D-Day in Photographs. He is also a trustee and the historian of the Normandy Memorial Trust, is a regular public lecturer on the topic, and has been interviewed for a number of TV and radio appearances on D-Day. 75 b/w illustrations
