June 6, 1944--D-Day; A Day Americans Should Never Forget
During
World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from
June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western
Europe from Nazi Germany’s control.
Codenamed Operation Overlord, the
battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000
American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a
50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy
region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults
in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies
conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the
Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of
northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the
Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called
the beginning of the end of war in Europe.
Preparing for D-Day
After World War II
began, Germany invaded and occupied northwestern France beginning in
May 1940. The Americans entered the war in December 1941, and by 1942
they and the British (who had been evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk
in May 1940 after being cut off by the Germans in the Battle of France)
were considering the possibility of a major Allied invasion across the
English Channel. The following year, Allied plans for a cross-Channel
invasion began to ramp up. In November 1943, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), who was aware of the threat of an invasion along France’s northern coast, put Erwin Rommel
(1891-1944) in charge of spearheading defense operations in the region,
even though the Germans did not know exactly where the Allies would
strike. Hitler charged Rommel with finishing the Atlantic Wall, a
2,400-mile fortification of bunkers, landmines and beach and water
obstacles.
In
January 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) was appointed
commander of Operation Overlord. In the months and weeks before D-Day,
the Allies carried out a massive deception operation intended to make
the Germans think the main invasion target was Pas-de-Calais (the
narrowest point between Britain and France) rather than Normandy. In
addition, they led the Germans to believe that Norway and other
locations were also potential invasion targets. Many tactics were used
to carry out the deception, including fake equipment; a phantom army
commanded by George Patton and supposedly based in England, across from
Pas-de-Calais; double agents; and fraudulent radio transmissions.
A Weather Delay: June 5, 1944
Eisenhower
selected June 5, 1944, as the date for the invasion; however, bad
weather on the days leading up to the operation caused it to be delayed
for 24 hours. On the morning of June 5, after his meteorologist
predicted improved conditions for the following day, Eisenhower gave the
go-ahead for Operation Overlord. He told the troops: “You are about to
embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many
months. The eyes of the world are upon you.”
Later that day, more
than 5,000 ships and landing craft carrying troops and supplies left
England for the trip across the Channel to France, while more than
11,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the
invasion.
D-Day Landings: June 6, 1944
By
dawn on June 6, thousands of paratroopers and glider troops were
already on the ground behind enemy lines, securing bridges and exit
roads. The amphibious invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and
Canadians overcame light opposition to capture beaches codenamed Gold,
Juno and Sword, as did the Americans at Utah
Beach. U.S. forces faced heavy resistance at Omaha Beach, where there
were over 2,000 American casualties. However, by day’s end,
approximately 156,000 Allied troops had successfully stormed Normandy’s
beaches. According to some estimates, more than 4,000 Allied troops lost
their lives in the D-Day invasion, with thousands more wounded or
missing.
Less
than a week later, on June 11, the beaches were fully secured and over
326,000 troops, more than 50,000 vehicles and some 100,000 tons of
equipment had landed at Normandy.
For their part, the Germans
suffered from confusion in the ranks and the absence of celebrated
commander Rommel, who was away on leave. At first, Hitler, believing the
invasion was a feint designed to distract the Germans from a coming
attack north of the Seine River, refused to release nearby divisions to
join the counterattack. Reinforcements had to be called from further
afield, causing delays. He also hesitated in calling for armored
divisions to help in the defense. Moreover, the Germans were hampered by
effective Allied air support, which took out many key bridges and
forced the Germans to take long detours, as well as efficient Allied
naval support, which helped protect advancing Allied troops.
In
the ensuing weeks, the Allies fought their way across the Normandy
countryside in the face of determined German resistance, as well as a
dense landscape of marshes and hedgerows. By the end of June, the Allies
had seized the vital port of Cherbourg, landed approximately 850,000
men and 150,000 vehicles in Normandy, and were poised to continue their
march across France.
Victory in Normandy
By
the end of August 1944, the Allies had reached the Seine River, Paris
was liberated and the Germans had been removed from northwestern France,
effectively concluding the Battle of Normandy. The Allied forces then
prepared to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet troops
moving in from the east.
The Normandy invasion began to turn the
tide against the Nazis. A significant psychological blow, it also
prevented Hitler from sending troops from France to build up his Eastern
Front against the advancing Soviets. The following spring, on May 8,
1945, the Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi
Germany. Hitler had committed suicide a week earlier, on April 30.
