Portsmouth author tells stories of landing craft on D-Day

D-Day Landing Craft by Andrew Whitmarsh looks at over 4,000 British, American and Canadian-crewed landing craft and landing ships that took part. The author is giving a free talk about the book at The D-Day Story on Saturday 1 June at 11am (no booking required).

Over 4,000 of these craft took part in the campaign, but their essential role has often been overlooked. The book both sets out the successive waves of landing craft that delivered troops, vehicles and supplies to the D-Day beaches throughout 6 June 1944. It also uses the words of the landing craft crewmen and the troops they carried to give a flavour of what it was like for the men involved.

Other sections of the book examine the different types of landing craft and their roles, when and where they were built, and the connections between Allied plans for D-Day and the number of landing craft available. The last section of the book covers the remainder of the Normandy campaign, through to the end of August 1944, as the work of landing craft continued in this period.

Captain Will Ramsay, grandson of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay who was the Allied Naval Commander for D-Day, says the book: ‘Brings to life … the planning and execution of the largest amphibious landing which the world has ever seen … My grandfather… would have been most impressed by this detailed research.’

Associated with the book is an online Roll of Honour of Allied landing craft crewmen who died in the Normandy campaign, which has been created for the first time: ddaylandingcraft.net.

Author Andrew Whitmarsh is the curator of The D-Day Story museum in Portsmouth, home of landing craft LCT 7074. He has written the book in his own time rather than through work.

“D-Day Landing Craft. How 4,126 ‘Ugly and Unorthodox’ Allied Craft made the Normandy Landings Possible”, by Andrew Whitmarsh, published by The History Press, 20 May 2024. It is on sale at The D-Day Story, local bookshops and online.