Sword Beach: The Untold Story of D -Days Forgotten Victory

Penguin Random House  London 2024

This book is the fruit of the author’s many years of research as an archaeologist and historian into the events of D-Day and the craft that delivered men to the beaches.  He had come to realise that many of the events and personal stories of action at Sword beach were as yet untold and has used his skills as author and historian to rectify this in a fast paced, moving and detailed examination of the  ships, landing craft, Infantry division and commandos that made possible the landing on Sword Beach .

A vivid snapshot of the experience of the midget submarine X23 forced to lay submerged when D Day was postponed, sets the scene for the combination of research and narrative tension that makes the book easy to read. When D-Day starts and after a massive naval bombardment we are taken centre stage of the landing, as landing craft and DDs  get into position amid the noise and confusion of battle.

The establishment of the beachhead and the arrival of the commandos is described in detail, with many  accounts of  individual actions and brave individuals. The author invites us in his introduction to imagine in the first few hours of the landing “an almost continuous din of shot and shell … thick chocking dust.”

The battle moved in land and the commandos under Lord Lovat were able to arrive at Pegasus bridge within four hours of landing to help relieve the airborne forces, while the main body of the assault force secured the bridge head and moved inland.

The achievement of naval and land forces in forming and securing the bridgehead at Sword Beach had been underestimated and this book goes some way to ensuring that their actions get the praise they deserve in securing the eastern flank of the landings. The painstaking detail and the personal accounts involved in this retelling of the landing   make for gripping reading. The author has used a multiplicity of sources well. In this proof addition there are no maps, but they will undoubtedly add to the enjoyment.

Sword Beach is a welcome and original contribution to the history of D- Day.

 Linda Parker