We splash onto the shore and start running. Bullets whistle and punch into the beach. Wrecked landing craft lie on their side. Waves wash up dead bodies floating face down. I stare. Training doesn't prepare you for this.

Tommy Doran is an infantryman in the British Army. It's June 1944 and he is about to take part in the biggest invasion in history: D-Day. Will he and his best mate Joe get through the German defences and make it home alive?

This first-person narrative follows them through the anticipation and boredom of waiting to boarding ship in bad weather at Southampton, the Channel crossing, to the fear and tumult of landing on Gold Beach.

Factual pages contextualise the narrative, giving readers the bigger picture. Archive photography and newly commissioned illustration bring the historical events described to life.

The book will be available in time for the 60th anniversary commemorations of D-Day in June 2014.

• Help Key Stage 3 students move from Level 3a to Level 4c in reading.
• Support comprehension with the age-appropriate illustrations and the historical photographs to take readers inside the soldiers' experience.
• Encourage shared and guided reading using the ready-made tasks and discussion points on the activity pages at the back of the book.
• Suitable for Key Stage 3 students with a reading age of 9 years and 6 months.