Early on the morning of June 6th
1944 the combined forces of the Allied armies landed on the Normandy
beaches in Northern France in the most ambitious and important operation
of the Second World War. With airborne troops already on the ground and
fighting, the sea-borne element of the force began landing. This phase
of the operation was codenamed Neptune and consisted of five invasion
beaches, three British and Canadian (Sword, Gold and Juno) and two
American beaches (Omaha and Utah).
The landings themselves were preceded
both by a powerful air attack and by a fierce naval artillery barrage
from a vast armada of ships anchored off-shore. The majority of the
beaches were taken with casualties, but no severe losses, except for
Omaha where the American troops were pinned down after the naval
bombardment failed to destroy the German defences.
But even this obstacle was overcome and
once the beach-heads were secure, Allied troops and equipment were
quickly brought ashore, ready to continue on and liberate the occupied
countries of Western Europe and ultimately to defeat Germany and win the
war.
This collection comes from the Normandy
beach-head, with tanks, landing craft, trucks, a gun emplacement,
soldiers and a diorama base to enable you to recreate this momentous
day.
Airfix Gift Sets are ideal for more advanced modellers and include glue, acrylic paints and brushes.
