Assault from the Sea 1939-1945

The Allied assault forces in World War II were carried by some of the greatest armadas ever assembled.

These landings were the lynchpin of some of the greatest operations in the conflict. In Normandy on D-Day, 132,715 troops were put ashore in sixteen hours against some of the most sophisticated defences then known. At Okinawa, at H-Hour, over 183,000 men in 1,300 vessels made the last in a succession of major landings by United States amphibious forces against determined Japanese resistance.

Both these operations, and every other during the conflict, called for intricate planning, daring seamanship and great determination by the soldiers and marines who fought their way ashore, supported by naval forces and airmen, sometimes flying at wave-top height.

Part of the fascination of this aspect of World War II history is that, the Japanese apart, no one had had any experience of such amphibious warfare. The qualities of seamanship and self-confidence had to be inculcated into men who had often never seen the sea and were without mechanical experience. Three million American infantrymen had to be trained for this new form of warfare, as well as 62,000 Royal Naval and Royal Marine crews.

Assault From The Sea records the personal experience of the servicemen who took part in this unique aspect of war.