kA DARING PLAN- BUT THE LIBERATION X)F EUROPE DEPENDED ON IT! BOMBS AWAY! Behind the Nye's Annihilators, 449th and 450th Squadron, Lt. Col. Charles Olmstead stared from the cabin of Pretty Baby, the lead plane of the 332nd's other two squadrons. Olm- stead would break off from the other Annihila- tor units when they crossed the French coast, because he would fly slightly north-northeast to attack the important railroad bridge at Letripad. This span was on the line that came from the low countries and into France. Without this bridge across the Seine River in northwest France, the Germans could not carry rail traffic to the Atlantic wall defenses on the Normandy coast. Olmstead's Pretty Baby carried a quartet of thousand-pound delayed-fuse bombs in the bays and the Lieutenant colonel looked forward to attacking the Letripad Bridge, certain that he and his fellow B-26 pilots would knock out the spans. He squinted again at the dreariness ahead of him .... OTHER BOOKS ON THE WORLD AT WAR by Lawrence Cortesi D-DAY MINUS (1318, $3.25) 1 THE DEADLY SKIES (1 132, $3.25) PACIFIC HELLFIRE (1 179, $3.25) PACIFIC STRIKE (1041 $2.95) , TARGET: TOKYO (1256, $3.25) VALOR AT LEYTE (1213, $3.25) VALOR AT SAMAR (1226, $2.75) THE BATTLE FOR MANILA (1334, $3.25) Available wherever paperbacks are sold, or order direct from the Publisher. Send cover price plus 50C per copy for mailing and handling to Zebra Books, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, N. Y. 100J6. DO NOT SEND CASH. D-DAY LAWRENCE CORTESI ZEBRA BOOKS KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP. ZEBRA BOOKS are published by KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP. 475 Park Avenue South New York, N.Y. 10016 © Copyright 1984 by Lawrence Cortesi All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews. First printing: January, 1984 Printed in the United States of America D-DAY MINUS ONE SITUATION IN EUROPE 6 June1944 Aus-OOaiaiTCOMM AftC*uw5t«AuIDcon:»cl NCU™ALCOUNTdlCf £^ C«aU-0""llATT4CI 100 tOO MO 400 soo CHAPTER ONE By late May of 1944, Paris, France was enjoying warm, spring weather. Residents moved about the city in shirt sleeves, traffic became heavier, the countless gardens had sprouted an array of colorful flowers, and trees were in full green foliage. But there was an ominous atmosphere hanging over Gay Paree. The vitality of its citizens, in evidence despite German occupation, had not heightened as was usual with the onset of warm weather. Small and large groups of Parisians huddled in dark cellars, closed apartments, and dark crannies, where they discussed the same subject: the coming Allied invasion of the continent. German soldiers, from full generals down to Wehrmacht privates and Luftwaffe lance corporals, had also become strangely incon- spicuous. Few of them indulged in their usual strolls through the streets of Paris, and few maintained either their relationships with pretty French women or their friendships with the men, associations that had prevailed in Paris for A nearly four years. wall of mutual coolness had emerged between the German occupiers and the French civilians, for both sides knew that one day soon Paris would be occupied by British and American troops. Yet Hitler raved on about defeating the Allies with his determined Wehrmacht, his panzer divisions and his new types of arms. "Our secret weapons will bring the Anglo- Saxon enemy to his knees,' the Fuhrer ranted ' during a speech on 20 May 1944. Hermann Goering also ranted, promising that the growing strength of the Luftwaffe would destroy the Allied air forces over the skies of Europe. "The Luftwaffe has never been stronger,' he told a jittery German public. ' "Our enemies will never penetrate Festung Europa (Fortress Europe)." But no one in Europe really believed the two Nazi leaders. The past year had brought two realities to the continent. The Allies had wrested the skies over Europe and they had built a military force in England that sprawled over half of the British Isles. By May of 1944, every- body on the continent suspected that an Allied invasion was imminent. Both civilians and soldiers had seen the 8