02/04/2026
Author Interview
Michel De Trez, can you introduce your upcoming book?
This new 304-page volume is the fifth installment in the series devoted to Carentan. It focuses more specifically on the fighting around Vierville and Angoville-au-Plain for the capture of Saint-Côme-du-Mont. A substantial chapter is also dedicated to the German side, with an in-depth study of Fallsch.Jg.Rgt.6.
Your book covers are very striking and highly anticipated with each release, what inspires you?
The excitement tied to the gestation and birth of a book is something one cannot truly understand without having experienced it. It is a deeply personal process, the culmination of decades of research. The ideas for the cover come almost naturally, I imagine them, sometimes I even dream them. I sketch a few lines on paper, and I have been fortunate from the very beginning of this journey to work with a talented friend, Denis Haillez, who manages to give shape to everything I have in mind.
It is the same for the layout, I share my ideas with Gil Bourdeaux, who brings his own touch and expertise so that everything comes together perfectly on the page. Above all, it is the work of a small team of passionate individuals.
I was also very fortunate to have the opportunity to go through Mark Bando’s remarkable photo collection.
How many volumes will this series include?
It is still difficult to give a definitive number. As of now, the fifth volume brings the total to 1,416 pages. The series progresses in installments of around 300 pages per volume, which suggests roughly ten volumes to cover the entirety of the first campaign of the 101st Airborne.
Each year, you create an event for the release of your books. Are you preparing another special surprise this year?
Over the years, we have indeed organized particularly original events. To name just a few, book signings in the presence of veterans, the delivery of the first copy by helicopter, the dropping of the first copies from C-47s over the original drop zone, or even their landing by Navy SEALs and presentation to descendants on the beach in front of more than 30,000 people. Each time, we try to offer something memorable, directly connected to the history we are telling.
Can you already reveal when and where the official release will take place?
Yes, of course. The official release is scheduled for June 5, from 9:00 to 13:00, in Angoville-au-Plain, at the farmhouse that served as the command post of Col. Robert Sink, commanding officer of the famed 506th PIR. This iconic location, today called Angoville44, widely featured in this fifth volume, naturally lends itself to such an event.
Will there be other signing sessions?
As every year, additional signing sessions will also be held at the D-Day Experience museum during the week of the 82nd anniversary commemorations of the Normandy landings.
