ABSTRACT
Everyone knew an invasion of north-west Europe would have to be attempted from English bases some time in 1944. A few fanatics from Hitler upwards may have deluded themselves with dreams of German secret weapons that would knock England out of the war first. A few fanatics on the other side hoped that strategic bombing would make German resistance crumble away altogether; they allowed that even if it did there would still have to be an invasion, to take occupation of the conquered territory. Most ordinary serving men knew there was going to be a hard fight; and most French people expected, in hope and anguish mixed, that it would rage across French soil and set them free. A growing body of staff officers had been wrestling since the previous August with the intricacies of the OVERLORD plan, of which the core was NEPTUNE; a combined seaborne and airborne landing in the great bay west of the mouth of the Seine.
