To commemorate D-Day seventy years on , here are just some of the books  available from Leeds Libraries that tell the story.

Stephen Ambrose – D-Day On the basis of 1,400 oral histories from the men who were there, bestselling author and World War II historian Stephen E. Ambrose reveals for the first time anywhere that the intricate plan for the invasion of France in June 1944 had to be abandoned before the first shot was fired. The true story of D-Day, as Ambrose relates it, is about the citizen soldiers – junior officers and enlisted men – taking the initiative to act on their own to break through Hitler’s Atlantic Wall when they realised that nothing was as they had been told it would be. D-DAY is the brilliant, no holds barred, telling of the battles of Omaha and Utah beaches. Ambrose relives the epic victory of democracy on the most important day of the twentieth century.

Jon E Lewis – Voices from D Day – The extraordinary and compelling story of the 6th of June, 1944, and the Battle for Normandy is told here through first-hand testimonies from civilians and soldiers on both sides. It features classic accounts by soldiers such as Rommel and Bradley, together with frontline reports by some of the world’s finest authors and war correspondents, including Ernest Hemingway and Alan Melville

Jonathan Mayo – D-Day, minute by minute –  – Drawing on memoirs, diaries, letters home and oral history accounts, this text is pure chronological story, concerned less with the military strategies and more with what people were thinking and doing as D-Day unfolded

Jonathan Bastable -D-Day This is a chronicle of the build-up to and aftermath of the most decisive battle of World War II, told through the tales of the participants who recorded their experiences in letters or diaries, or recounted them after the event

Ken Ford – Overlord: The D-Day Landings – Operation Overlord was the largest amphibious military operation ever launched, with a vast armada transporting over 150,000 Allied soldiers across the Channel. This book looks in detail at the plans and build-up to the operation, and discusses the events of D-Day in each of the key areas of the operation

Henry Brook – D-Day. The author works for the Imperial War Museum. This is the story of D-Day – the Normandy beach landings which saw the start of the Allies’ major offensive against German forces – specially written for young readers

Roderick Bailey – Forgotten Voices of D-Day – Drawing on thousands of hours of eyewitness testimony recorded by the Imperial War Museum, ‘Forgotten Voices of D-Day’ tells the compelling story of this turning point in the Second World War in the words of those who were there

Joseph Rogers – D-Day beach force The British beach groups were a combined force of men stationed on the Normanday beaches from the initial landing until the last unit was disbanded a few weeks later. This book explores how the behind-the-scenes action of this often forgotten unit saved lives and aided the success of the landings

Antony Beevor – D-Day: the battle for Normandy -Making use of overlooked and new material from over 30 archives in half a dozen countries, ‘D-Day’ is a vivid and well-researched account of the battle of Normandy.

 Ian Gardner – Tonight we die as men: the untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to D-Day Using first-hand accounts of the soldiers and the French civilians who witnessed the Normandy campaign, the authors here offer a comprehensive account of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, from training through to D-Day and beyond