Naval Institute Press

D-Day Ships: The Allied Invasion Fleet, June 1944

by  Yves Buffetaut

Reviewed By  Howie Belkin, IPMS# 16

MSRP: $40, available for less in used book shops ISBN: 1557501521 I think a lot of us are history buffs as well as modelers. It kind of goes hand in hand. I know that I spend more money on books and accessories than I do on models these days. If you do too you should know about Edward Hamilton Booksellers, Falls Village, CT 06031-5000 and write to them for their latest bargain books supplement. I paid $12.95 for D-Day Ships; it's normally $40 retail. Anyway, this book caught my interest both from a modeling and historic viewpoint. It makes a point that before the war there were hardly any landing craft worthy of the name in existence. Even the Japanese island hopping was done with mostly obsolete equipment, and Hitler's imagined invasion of England was going to be done with a hodge podge of different barges, boats and craft that probably couldn't even cross the channel. I recall recently reading a comment from Steve Zaloga stating that we didn't use LCMs to land tanks on D-Day, we used LCTs. We did use LCMs on D-Day but they weren't used to land tanks until the Rhine crossing in Europe. That must have raised a lot of eyebrows because there have been several new LCM kits released in three scales, with each promoting a D-Day theme. Nonetheless, this book documents the loss of about 150 LCMs in 1944. In addition to the various landing craft from LCAs to the LCTs, this book also covers every other type of ship that made D-Day possible. There are scale line drawings and black and white photos of most of them. D-Day Ships is full of photos, which in my ripening youthful age is a major plus for any book. But the photos make this an invaluable addition to the modeler's library, distinctly showing off the camo patterns used which in real life, were black and white and grey or simple USN measure 21 Navy blue overall with deck blue decks. Historically, I was aware of how destroyers came close to shore to duke it out with shore batteries and even machine gun nests that were slaughtering our troops. This is where D-Day Ships really shines, telling exactly what happened where, and how vulnerable the allied Navies (in addition to the USN and RN there were numerous other nations' ships in the flotilla) were, willing to sacrifice all to help the landings succeed. The book mentions the numerous defensive positions and describes just how they were taken out, some being minor miracles. I never thought about it, but France was home base for many of the German U-Boats and E or S patrol boats. I heard about a disaster that was kept top secret for years, where E Boats came upon a practice landing weeks before D-Day and caused grievous damage. Where were they on D-Day? Imagine them running amok through the largest fleet known to man! Hell, you could let loose all your torpedoes without sighting in on a given target and hit something for crying out loud. They did - and they did: miss (all but one torpedo)! Most of the German ships were wiped out; the few that weren't escaped for safer havens. They caused negligible damage to the allies, one of several miracles that day. Our PT boats are mentioned, but not illustrated, but a British MTB bridge is shown with Admiral Sir Cunningham and Air Vice Marshal Portal aboard. The role of the Air Forces is mentioned and you'll learn that Pips Priller and his wingman weren't alone during the entire landing. The British suspected that we might wind up with a beachhead with no real port available to unload the tons upon tons of material and men needed to follow-up the landings. Can you imagine being the officer who suggested that "we'll just build parts of a port here, and tow them across the channel and put the pieces together over there?" That's my imagination, not a direct quote. But imagine having to convince all the top brass that it was doable, that you weren't nuts? It may have helped that someone else suggested an even more outlandish idea of an aircraft carrier made of a man made ice conglomerate? Well, the rest is history as you know, the Mulberries and Gooseberries were made, towed across, put together and worked another miracle. The author explains how they worked and discusses the debate over their usefulness. He even mentions how each section of the flotilla was planned and scheduled, because with that much traffic, if some ships fell behind or ran ahead of schedule they'd endanger the ships in front or behind them! There are numerous books and movies telling the D-Day story from the viewpoint of the heroes who landed by sea or air, as well as from the defending Germans. This is the first account of the invasion from the naval point of view that I've read that has made a great impression on me. Historically, the author has done his homework and in simple English imparts a lot of knowledge that had eluded most of us all these years. He has illustrated it with plenty of photos to make any modeler model an accurate ship, from the smallest to the greatest participant. Books come and go thru Hamilton, so if they're already gone you'll have to check your hobby shop, book store, Amazon or however else you've learned to seek, in order to find.

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