Book excerpt: “Simply breathtaking. It doesn’t simply offer alternatives to the history of Pointe du Hoc, it blows them away . . . for fans of anything WWII [or] D-Day.”—War History Online The Rangers mission was clear. They were to lead the assault on Omaha Beach and breakout inland. Simultaneously other Ranger units would scale the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to destroy the “huge” gun battery there and thus protect the invasion fleet from being targeted. But was the Pointe du Hoc mission actually necessary? Why did the Allies plan and execute an attack on a gun battery which they knew in advance contained no field guns? And more importantly, why did they ignore the position at Maisy that did? Using personal interviews with the surviving Rangers who fought on the beach and at Pointe du Hoc, Gary Sterne has made a painstaking study of what the Allies actually knew in advance of D-day and about the Maisy Battery. Maps, orders and assault plans have been found in the UK, German and US archives, many of which were not released from the Top Secrecy Act for 60+ years. Radio communications have been found from the Rangers as they advanced inland towards Maisy and intelligence evaluations made by the RAF of bombing missions directed at the site have now been released. All these combine to make this one of the most up-to-date references on the subject. “A gritty first hand-yard by yard account of what combat was like . . . will forever change the way you think about the battle for Omaha Beach and the importance of Pointe du Hoc.”—The Armourer