D-Day, June 6th 1944: Allies Invade Nazi Occupied Europe

By May 1944, the Western Allies were ready to launch their most significant offensive of World War II, the long-anticipated cross-channel invasion of northern France, “D-Day”, codenamed Operation Overlord.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed as the Supreme Commander of this operation, which involved the coordinated efforts of 12 nations.

After extensive deliberation, it was decided that the landings would occur on the broad, gently sloping beaches of Normandy.

This location was chosen to maximise the element of surprise, as the German high command anticipated an attack in the Pas de Calais region, north of the River Seine, where the English Channel is narrowest.

Adolf Hitler had stationed the majority of his panzer divisions there, having been misled by Allied undercover agents posing as German sympathisers.

The element of surprise was crucial; if the Germans had known the exact location and timing of the invasion, they could have repelled the Allies with their 55 divisions stationed in France.

The invaders would have faced a significant disadvantage, with a 10-to-1 manpower ratio against them.

The challenges of mounting a successful landing were formidable. The English Channel was notorious for its rough seas and unpredictable weather.

Additionally, the Germans had spent months constructing the Atlantic Wall, a 2,400-mile line of defences that included 6.5 million mines, thousands of concrete bunkers and pillboxes with heavy artillery, tens of thousands of tank ditches, and various beach obstacles.

The German army was entrenched on the cliffs overlooking the American landing beaches.

At the Tehran Conference in August 1943, Allied leaders scheduled Operation Overlord for no later than May 1st, 1944. In the interim, extensive preparations were made.

Trucks, tanks, and tens of thousands of troops were transported to England.

An American sergeant recalled, “We were getting ready for one of the biggest adventures of our lives. We couldn’t wait.”

Meanwhile, British and American air forces in England launched a massive bombing campaign targeting railroad bridges and roads in northern France to hinder German reinforcements.

After Eisenhower’s appointment as Supreme Commander, he and General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery revised the invasion plan, expanding the beachhead and increasing the number of divisions in the initial assault. This led to the decision to set June 5th, 1944, as the invasion’s D-Day.

However, on June 4th, meteorologists predicted foul weather over the English Channel for the 5th, prompting Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours.

This delay was nerve-wracking for the soldiers, sailors, and airmen, but when a brief window of clearer weather was forecasted for June 6th, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead. It was one of the most courageous decisions of the war.

Shortly after midnight on the 6th, Allied airborne troops began parachuting behind enemy lines.

Their mission was to destroy bridges, sabotage railroads, and take other measures to prevent the enemy from reinforcing the invasion beaches.

Hours later, the largest amphibious landing force ever assembled moved through the stormy waters towards the beaches. Most of the American troops were crammed into flat-bottomed Higgins boats launched from troop transports 10 miles from the French coast. The men were seasick and cold, bailing water with their helmets as it rushed in over the gunwales.

The landing zone was divided into five beaches: the Americans landed at Utah and Omaha, while the British and Canadians landed at Gold, Juno, and Sword.

The fiercest fighting occurred at Omaha Beach, where the enemy was positioned on steep cliffs overlooking the long, flat shoreline.

Troops leapt from their landing boats only to be pinned down for hours by intense machine-gun fire. “If you stayed there you were going to die,” recalled Lieutenant Colonel Bill Friedman.

“We just had to try to get to the bottom of the cliffs on which the Germans had mounted their defences.”

By midday, the Americans had taken Omaha Beach at a heavy cost: over 2,400 were killed, wounded, or missing out of approximately 34,000 who came ashore that day, a loss rate of more than 7 percent.

By nightfall, around 160,000 Allied troops were ashore, with nearly a million more men expected over the summer.

The Normandy invasion was a pivotal moment in 20th-century history. An immense Allied force established a foothold in Nazi-occupied Europe, never to be dislodged.

That same month, Germany faced a massive Soviet invasion from the east, which would reach Berlin by the following April. Reflecting on D-Day’s importance, one can consider the consequences of its potential failure.

A failed landing would have delayed another attempt by at least a year, giving Hitler time to strengthen the Atlantic Wall, attack England with V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets, advance jet aircraft and other “miracle weapons,” and continue his genocidal campaign.

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