Molyson Jr., Joseph T. Thunder over Normandy

How Allied Airmen helped liberate France from D-Day to Paris and beyond

In June 1944, the Allied air forces were ready to launch a full-scale attack on the Germans in occupied France. Numerous bombers and fighter planes had been assembled in the United Kingdom, and more than a million soldiers were ready to advance onto the continent. Thunder over Normandy tells the story of the air campaign that began on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and culminated in the liberation of Franceone of the largest, most complex, and most successful air operations in history. In April 1944, the Allied air forces in Europeincluding the famous 8th US Air Force and RAF Bomber Commandwere placed under Dwight Eisenhower's Supreme Command of the Allied Forces and entrusted with a dual mission to lay the groundwork for D-Day: to destroy the Luftwaffe's combat power and cut Normandy off from reinforcements. American and British heavy bombers carried out these tasks with devastating effectiveness. D-Day began at midnight with the launch of 1,200 transport planes that dropped American and British paratroopers and gliders behind enemy lines in Normandy. In a monumental effort, the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed behind Utah Beach and fought for towns such as Carentan; the British 6th Airborne Division captured the Pegasus Bridge and other crossings; and the British 1st Airborne Division captured the D-Day beaches and fought for towns such as Carentan. Airborne Divisions of the United States landed behind Utah Beach and fought for towns such as Carentan; the British 6th Airborne Division captured the Pegasus Bridge and other crossings near Caen. At dawn, 1,000 bombers bombed German positions along the coast, directly in front of the troops storming the beaches. As the fighting moved inland over the next two months, Allied fighters and fighter-bombers swarmed in to provide air support for ground forces battling through the hedgerows of Normandy. Bombers continued to attack German industry, but priority was now given to destroying V-1 and V-2 rocket sites as part of Operation Crossbow. Bombers were also used tactically in conjunction with ground operations, including the heavy bombardments that preceded the breakout from Normandy at the end of July. By the time Paris was liberated in August 1944, Allied air forceswith thousands of sorties and hundreds of thousands of tons of bombshad contributed significantly to the Allied victory. Thunder over Normandy describes in detail the air operations that made this possible, from thunderous bombing raids and low-level strafing to parachute drops, glider assaults, and dogfights with the Luftwaffe. As this thrilling account vividly demonstrates, the Allies were the undisputed masters of the skies in the summer of 1944.