Operation Overlord, first published in 1952, is a detailed account of the strategy, planning and execution of the massive campaign to free western Europe from the Nazis in World War II. The first phase of the operation was code-named "Neptune" - the assembly of the invasion forces in England, crossing the English Channel, and the fight to secure the beaches of Normandy. Included are photographs and maps, and glossaries of allied code-names and landing ships and craft. Author Albert Norman, who based the book largely on primary sources, was a wartime historian attached to the Headquarters of the 12th Army Group.