D-Day

On the beaches of Normandy, June 6, 1944, the greatest amphibious invasion in the history of the world took place. It was the sight of Operation Overlord a.k.a. the Allied invasion of France. It took years to plan and over 150,000 British, U.S., and Canadian soldiers stormed the beaches on that fateful morning of June. During the operation all those soldiers were ferried across the English Channel to create and firmly establish 5 beachheads. Due to bad weather, the invasion was nearly called off, but thanks to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander-in-chief of the Allied forces and future president of the United States, the go ahead was given and the troops rode on towards their objectives. D-Day was a calculated but lucky break for the Allies because Germany was expecting and invasion farther east at the Pas de Calais and had set up their primary defenses there. The reason they thought the Allies would go through there is because it was the shortest route from England to France, meaning that there would be more available air cover and a greater resupply rate. Yet by nightfall on June 6, 1944, all 5 beachheads were secure and there were only 2,500 soldiers dead, much less than Allied commanders expected. D-Day is considered the turning point in the war and represented the beginning of the liberation of Axis-occupied Western Europe. A major part of the Normandy landings were played out by paratroopers. U.S. paratroopers dropped behind Utah Beach during the early hours of D-Day. They did this to secure vital positions for the success of Operation Overlord. Not to be outshined however, the British paratroopers landed behind Sword Beach, where they destroyed a German gun battery. In theory, the most challenging of the five landing sites of Operation Overlord was "Omaha" beach. High cliffs surrounded the beach and there were an extremely few amount of routes inland. Because of these qualities, "Omaha" was extremely easy to defend, but extremely difficult to attack. To establish a 2-mile-deep beachhead by nightfall, 3,000 U.S. troops were lost but in the long run, it played a major effect on the outcome of Operation Overlord. Going on, after the initial landings were successful, the Allies consolidated their beachead, bringing more troops and supplies to the Normandy sector. The British army by this time had already captured Caen, a major objective in the Normandy landings. Later, the Americans conquered Cherbourg, which deepened the penetration even more. With these two captures the Allied morale was at its highest. Following up their string of victories, the Allied nations advanced west, lead by General George S. Patton, a strong advocate of mobile warfare. General Patton smashed through the German lines and punched a hole through to Paris.



Real footage of D-Day: media type="youtube" key="uPU4p7UQOtU&hl=en" height="344" width="425"