Inside the gut-wrenching, 24-hour countdown that saw 13,000 paratroopers become the first boots on the ground in Normandy.
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As they crossed the Normandy coast at 1:00 a.m., German 20mm flak batteries opened up. The sky turned into a fireworks display of tracer rounds and exploding shells. Pilots jinked wildly; some planes broke formation. The green light blinked on. The jumpmaster screamed “GO!” And then came the most famous sound of D-Day: the crack-crack of static lines as 13,000 men hurled themselves into the dark. Below, many would drown in deliberately flooded fields. Others would land on church rooftops or in German courtyards. But by 02:30, scattered, half-armed, and alone, the Airborne had done their job: they had made the enemy believe the invasion was everywhere at once. Inside the gut-wrenching, 24-hour countdown that saw 13,000