The first volume in a groundbreaking work of WWII history presents a startlingly different narrative of D-Day based on newly released documents.

Though the historic importance of the Allied attack on the gun battery at Pointe du Hoc is well known, historian Gary Sterne has uncovered striking new information about the events in recently released documents. In a landmark work of World War II history, Sterne presents a trenchant reassessment of the battle for Pointe du Hoc in a vivid, two-volume account that reveals the true mission of the 2nd and 5th U.S. Army Rangers.

This first volume looks at the critical months leading up to the Normandy invasion, following the preparations of the Rangers from their arrival in England in 1943. Sterne examines the orders they received, along with dozens of aerial reconnaissance photographs of Omaha Beach, Pointe et Raz de la Percée, Pointe du Hoc and Maisy—as well as French Resistance reports. Shown in chronological order and in their original format, many of these documents are still marked TOP SECRET.

Together with the second volume, The Cover Up at Omaha Beach, this revelatory work will change the way historians view the Pointe du Hoc battle from now on.