Gary Sterne – författare

In April 1944 with the D-Day invasion looming, a convoy of American landing craft sailed along England’s south coast. In the dead of night, German E-boats struck and within minutes, ships were sunk, hundreds of US servicemen were dead, and the Allies had suffered their greatest loss of life in the build-up to the invasion of Normandy. The tragedy was quickly buried under wartime secrecy laws, yet for decades, rumours persisted. Were all the bodies recovered? Or did some of the missing men remain hidden, buried in Dorset fields?Award-winning investigative author Gary Sterne, known for Cover Up at Omaha Beach and Cover Up at Pointe du Hoc, has spent years uncovering hidden truths about the Normandy campaign. A chance meeting with a veteran set him on the trail of the Slapton Sands mystery. Through meticulous research and the discovery of long-forgotten British, American, and German documents, he has pieced together the events of that night in unprecedented detail.For the first time, the fate of every missing man is revealed - their names and what truly happened to them. Acclaimed by historians, this groundbreaking work finally resolves an 80-year-old enigma and shines new light on one of the Second World War’s most tragic and secretive episodes.

Volume 1 of this two-part work puts the reader firmly into the footsteps of the 2nd and 5th Rangers as they arrive in England in 1943\. It follows them during their intensive training with the Commandos and the Royal Navy as they head towards D-Day - including cliff climbing, assault landings and the Slapton Sands dress rehearsal'.The orders given to the Rangers, along with dozens of aerial reconnaissance photographs of Omaha Beach, Pointe et Raz de la Perc e, Pointe du Hoc and Maisy - as well as French Resistance reports - detail the information given to the Rangers' commander Lt. Col. Rudder. Shown in chronological order and in their original format, many of the documents are still marked TOP SECRET and were only recently released after nearly 70 years.The author fills in the gaps that many have only guessed at concerning the Rangers' real missions on D-Day, and in Volume 2 he explains why a battalion commander was removed whilst onboard ship prior to the landings, why the individual Rangers were not briefed on all of their D-Day objectives - as well as the extraordinary role that Lt. Col. Rudder played at Pointe du Hoc.Described by US historians as 'one of the most detailed works about the D-Day Rangers ever written', this work is the culmination of four years of detailed research within the US Archives and backed up by evidence uncovered in Normandy. It is a real historical game-changer that pulls no punches as it challenges conventional studies of one of the most iconic battles of WWII.There can be no doubt that this work will change the way that historians view the Pointe du Hoc battle from now on.