On 6 June 1944, the Allies began their long-awaited invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. By the end of the day, more than 150,000 men had landed in northern France, ready to start pushing further inland. But how had this immense undertaking been planned? And how long was it before they achieved their first objective? In the first episode of our new three-part series, Jon Bauckham talks to Saul David about the experiences of the Allied airborne forces on D-Day, revealing how paratroopers and glider infantry were pivotal to the invasion’s overall success.

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Saul David is an acclaimed author, historian and broadcaster. His latest book is Sky Warriors: British Airborne Forces in the Second World War (William Collins, 2024)

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Authors

Jon BauckhamProduction Editor, BBC History Magazine

Jon Bauckham is the Production Editor of BBC History Magazine and previously held the same role on BBC History Revealed. He is responsible for writing, editing and proofreading content, and ensuring that the magazine goes to press smoothly each month. When he’s not poring over pages with a red pen, he can be found recording episodes of the award-winning HistoryExtra podcast, chatting to authors about subjects ranging from Lord Kitchener to Russian pianos

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