D-Day was the start of Operation 'Overlord' to liberate France from the Nazis during World War II. On D-Day, Tuesday, June 6, 1944, Allied forces launched a massive naval, air, and land assault on Nazi-occupied France. D-Day means the important 'day' (the day of decision), and the term was used to describe the first day of the greatest military operation ever seen in history.
In the early morning of Tuesday, June 6, Allied forces carried out an unprecedented massive operation in northern France. Ground troops and airborne soldiers landed on five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. By the end of the day, the military forces had established a foothold on the coast and began advancing deeper into France, which was occupied by Germany during World War II.
British, Canadian, American, and Russian forces breached the Normandy coastline, and they broke through the defenses that the Germans had built along the Atlantic coast. This was a turning point in World War II, even though over 3,500 men were lost in a single day.
The assault began with airborne landings at 3:30 AM, followed by the ground assault at 6:30 AM; an unprecedented fierce battle raged for 19 hours.
Operation Overlord was planned for months and was scheduled to take place on June 5 but was delayed by one day due to bad weather.
In the months that followed, the forces fought across France and captured various strategic ports such as Caen, and later liberated Paris. Less than a year later, the Allied nations entered Nazi Germany, forcing its surrender.
Background
Initially, in 1940, the Germans had invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and a large part of France. The Allied forces (who supported Britain in the war) needed to find a way to reclaim the countries occupied by Germany. As early as 1942, the three Allied leaders—Winston Churchill (Britain), Franklin D. Roosevelt (USA), and Joseph Stalin (USSR)—began meeting to discuss how to do this.
In 1943, they produced a complex plan called Operation Overlord. This involved landing thousands of soldiers on five beaches in Normandy, northwestern France. They hoped that their forces could then enter France and drive out the Germans.
The Germans knew the Allies were preparing an attack, but they believed the attack would focus on Calais, France. Calais was the port closest from France to England.
On June 5, a fleet carrying 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 aircraft began leaving ports in England, heading for France. That night, airborne troops were dropped into the area. Their mission was to capture key towns, roads, and bridges in Normandy (in France) so that the soldiers on the beaches could make their way inland.
On the morning of June 6, the naval fleet arrived off the coast of Normandy. Landing craft capable of carrying soldiers and tanks sailed to the beaches, landed their troops and tanks, and then returned to larger ships to transport more soldiers.
British and Canadian soldiers landed on Sword and Juno beaches and Gold Beach. American soldiers landed on Omaha and Utah Beaches.
Before the first soldiers landed on the beaches, Allied ships and aircraft began bombarding the fortifications the Germans had built around for their defense. They hoped to destroy them, but some of the fortifications were built so strongly that the Germans were protected and able to attack the Allies.
On the British beaches, the forces made such good progress that they managed to push inland into France. The Americans faced fierce resistance and strong defenses on one of their beaches and took longer than expected, until the end of the day, but despite this, all five beaches had been taken by the Allied forces.
After D-Day
In the days that followed, many Germans arrived in Normandy to fight the Allied invasion. For a week, while fighting continued in Normandy, the Allied forces kept landing. By the end of June, the Americans had defeated the Germans.
When the Allied forces launched another new offensive, Operation Cobra, in July 1944, the German forces were exhausted and began retreating. The British and American forces pursued them. About 200,000 German troops were surrounded and captured. In August 1944, the Allies reached Paris, France, and liberated it from German occupation.
The D-Day battle came with heavy bloodshed: over 200,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded by the end of Operation Overlord. The Germans suffered similar casualties. In addition, many civilians were killed in France during the bombings and ground battles, while fighting continued at sea, and as the Allied forces marched toward Paris. Even though the war continued for another year, D-Day was the beginning of the end of the war. It is considered one of the most successful military operations in history.