The Invasion of France and Germany: 1944-1945

The Naval Institute Press has published Samuel Eliot Morison's monumental History of United States Naval Operations in World War II in updated paperback editions with new introductions by noted military historians. Morison, an eminent Harvard professor, was appointed by his close friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to write the history of US naval operations after convincing the president that too many wartime histories were written after the fact or from a distance. Morison called his classic work a ""shooting history"" of World War II, because it was documented by historical observation during each specific naval operation in the Atlantic and Pacific. Critically hailed for its accuracy, narrative pace, and detail, the series presents a complete record of the U.S. Navy's war at sea.

The eleventh volume recounts the US Navy's role in the invasion of Normandy-the largest and most complicated military operation ever undertaken. Involving more than a million American soldiers, 124,000 sailors, and 427,000 aviators, Operation Neptune-Overlord encompassed five major landings on the coast of Normandy. As Morison shows, the fire curtain provided by the powerful guns of the navy proved to be one of the most valuable trump cards of the Anglo-United States invasion armies.