Operation Codicil

On the night before D-Day, Sergeant Sean Harris and a group of British airborne pathfinders fly towards Normandy as the first troops of the invasion prepare to land. Their fictional mission centres on securing a strategically important bridge over the River Orne, but a disrupted drop and intelligence from a French Resistance contact leave Harris and a small party trying to reach the objective while German forces close in.

The novel begins the Manner of Men sequence and establishes Harris as an experienced soldier still carrying memories of Dunkirk. McKay places his invented unit within the documented airborne operations of 6 June 1944, drawing inspiration from actions around Pegasus Bridge and other Normandy objectives without presenting the fictional bridge fight as a literal reconstruction of one historical engagement.