In the hours before dawn on June 6, 1944, an unprecedented assemblage of men, weapons, and machines swung into action. The long-awaited, highly secret D-Day invasion had begun. By the end of the day, the mission to liberate Europe had made its most crucial advance. This richly illustrated account draws on the unparalleled collections of the Imperial War Museums to reconstruct the invasion and its aftermath through images of artifacts, documents, period photographs, and art. Eyewitness accounts put the reader in the middle of the action, reminding us that even with all the careful planning and firepower the Allies were able to muster, the outcome of the invasion was far from certain. Recreating the drama and danger of D-Day, this book is a perfect commemoration of a day that changed the world.