'What manner of men are these who wear the maroon beret? They have jumped from the air and by doing so have conquered fear.' Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein Six hours before dawn on 6 June 1944, before D-Day had officially begun, 9 PARA dropped into the darkness behind the German defences of the Normandy beaches. Their mission: to destroy the heavily fortified German gun emplacement at Merville. It was considered the toughest of all the tasks given to the airborne troops, and pivotal for the success of D-Day. Due to heavy winds and anti-aircraft fire, the paratroopers were scattered over the French countryside and scores drowned in fields flooded by the Germans. Of those who dropped, only a fraction made it to the rendezvous point for the attack. To make matters worse, their assault guns and mine clearing stores never made it to the objective, and the preliminary bombing raid of RAF Lancaster bombers missed their target by over half a mile. The Germans were unscathed and ready for them.

Colonel Stuart Tootal draws on the firsthand accounts of surviving veterans from both sides, detailed research and his own experiences of facing the odds of battle to tell the incredible, epic story of a desperate band of brothers fighting their way to victory in the face of impossible odds.