D-Day

On June 6, 1944, Allied troops from Canada, the United States and Great Britain, landed on the
Normandy coast of France. Adolph Hitler and the German army had captured much of Europe.
The purpose of the invasion of the Allies was to drive the Germans back and free the occupied
countries from the Germans. France was the largest of the occupied countries. The attack was a win
for the Allies. The start of any military campaign is called D-Day, but in history, it has come to
refer to the invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

Winston Churchill was the leader of Great Britain, Charles de Gaulle was the leader of France,
Franklin Roosevelt was the leader of the United States and MacKenzie King was the leader of
Canada at the time of the invasion. The entire operation was called Operation Overload.

This operation required months of planning. Thousands of troops set up bases throughout the
southern part of Great Britain and trained for the operation. Boats of all kinds, big and small, were
offered by the people of Britain to help. The Germans knew that the forces were being gathered in
Great Britain, but they did not know where the Allies would land. The Allies tried to trick the
Germans by having them believe that they would attack north of Normandy at Pas de Calais in
France.

United States General Dwight Eisenhower was the commander of the attack. The weather was very
bad so he almost canceled the mission. Although they decided to go ahead, the Germans thought
they wouldn't come due to the weather so were not well prepared.

First, paratroopers jumped out of Allied planes behind enemy lines to try to destroy important sites
of the Germans. Dummies were also landed to deceive the Germans. Next thousands of bombs were
dropped on German airfields, factories, and bridges. At the same time, the French Underground
(French people who worked secretly to conquer or harm the Germans in any way possible) cut
telephone lines and blew up bridges.

The Allies wanted a full moon for the landing. Because of that, General Eisenhower decided to go
ahead with the attack despite bad weather because there were so few days in the month which
would work. The Allies knew that the Germans had hidden large objects in the harbors so they
wanted to arrive at high tide to try to avoid these objects which would damage the boats. The
landings at Normandy were called 'Operation Neptune.' Neptune was the Roman god of the sea. It
was the largest amphibious attack in military history. 'Amphibious' means 'from sea to land.'

Finally, 6000 ships carrying men, machinery, weapons and equipment, crossed the English
Channel from the southern part of Great Britain to the northern coast of France and landed on the
coast of Normandy. The Germans attacked the landing troops with much machine gun fire.
American troops landed on Utah and Omaha beaches. The attack on Utah beach was successful,
but many men died at Omaha Beach. The Americans, however, could conquer the beach. By the
end of the day, 150,000 troops had landed, with the first going on ahead to make room for those
following. They started to push the Germans out of France.

4,144 Allied soldiers died on D-Day, with thousands more wounded. When the battle was over, by
the end of August 1944, 425,000 members of the Allied and German forces were dead. The victory
at Normandy was the turning point of World War II. That means that the victory turned toward the
Allied troops. 2 million Allied troops were too much for the half a million Germans.
Normandy Invasion Facts
Normandy Invasion Facts
The Normandy invasion took place on June 6th, 1944, when U.S., Canadian, Free French forces,
and British forces landed at five beaches in Normandy. It was the largest amphibious invasion
(which brings troops, vehicles, and supplies being brought ashore via boats and other watercraft) in
history, launched by the western Allies during World War II. This historic day became known as
D-Day. The invasion began in the night, with air attacks, troops arriving by parachute and gliders,
and navy bombardments, followed by the landings in the morning at five of Normandy's beaches.
The beaches were given the codenames Juno, Gold, Omaha, Utah, and Sword. This invasion was
instrumental for the Western Allies to gain a strong foothold and obtain Germany's surrender only
a few months later.
Interesting Normandy Invasion Facts:
The plans for D-Day began months ahead of the actual invasion.
There were roughly 3,200 reconnaissance missions before D-Day to take pictures of various
locations.
Rehearsals were held for the invasion, and one on April 28th, 1944 was interrupted by German
torpedo boats and 638 soldiers from the U.S. were killed.
The Allies implemented a deception called Operation Fortitude to mislead the Nazis about the time
and place of D-Day.
There were leaks of the upcoming invasion, but details were not enough to give the Germans
enough information.
The initial invasion on D-Day included approximately 156,000 troops that stormed Normandy's
beaches.
Germany had 55 divisions in France. It was important to attack with the element of surprise because
the Allies could only bring 8 divisions to Normandy's shores on the morning of D-Day.
Prior to D-Day the air support operations flew 14,000 missions in an effort to weaken German
forces. Between April 1st and June 5th, 1944 the losses to air forces included 12,000 airmen and
2,000 airplanes.
On D-Day 127 additional airplanes were destroyed. At the end of the Normandy invasion an
additional 28,000 pilots and airmen had lost their lives.
Because D-Day's secrecy and decoy measures were so well planned, it took Germany's 2nd Waffen
SS Division forces two weeks, instead of two days, to reach the front. Spies and French Resistance
also helped to delay German forces.
Beginning at 11:00pm on June 5th approximately 24,000 troops were dropped behind German
enemy lines to allow the Allies to secure strategic roads and bridges. Dummy paratroops were
dropped in strategic locations to fool the Germans as well.
At 3:00am on June 6th, Allied bombers began to attack the Germans, dropping a total of seven
million pounds of explosives that day.
The naval forces included 7 battleships, 43 destroyers, and 18 cruisers. They began to attack at
5:00am.
At 6:31am U.S. troops began to go ashore, followed by the British and Canadians.
The D-Day invasion at Normandy's beaches resulted in fewer casualties than expected, with Allied
deaths totaling 4,572. Germans lost 9,000.
The invasion codenames given to the five beaches that the Allied forces took on D-Day are still
used on maps and signs.
There are several war cemeteries in Normandy where Allied forces and German forces are buried.