More than three years before the Allies launched the single largest, most epic amphibious invasion in the history of mankind — the Normandy Invasion — the mission was already a twinkle in British eyes. In March 1942, on the BBC evening news, an urgent call went out to the British people on behalf of the Royal Navy. It was asking Britons to send to the government any photos they had taken on the French coast, no matter how boring, trivial or mundane. You see, unknown to the public, the Inter Services Topographical Department (ISTD) was assembling a detailed picture of the entire French coast an…
