D-Day Invasion on Land
The Story behind the Invasion of Normandy, France
What really happened on D-Day?
Operation Overlord was the code name for D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, France. D-Day was scheduled for June 5, 1944. General Eisenhower delayed the invasion one day because of the weather prediction for the scheduled day of the invasion. D-Day was executed the next day, June 6, 1944 at about 6:30 a.m. About 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces were deployed on 50 miles of a very sandy kill zone loaded with the opposing German forces. Of the 156,000 troops deployed, 84,000 were British and Canadian lead by General Miles Dempsey.The soldiers were deployed on Omaha, Utah, Sword, Juno, and Gold beaches. The troops could not really reach any good cover from the geography of the beach for a solid 200 yards. They then had to go through a literal uphill battle with the Germans once the Allies got passed the beach. This included bunkers, turrets, mortars, land mines, and many other obstacles. By June 11th, less than a week later, the Allied forces had taken the beach. There were roughly 326,000 troops, more than 50,000 vehicles, and about 100,000 tons of equipment. The overall goal of the invasion was to push Germany further back into Europe and work their way into Germany and ultimately defeat the German Dictator, Adolf Hitler.
General Eisenhower talking to the troops before the Invasion
Troops storm the beach on D-Day
Troops taking cover behind obstacles set by the Germans
A tactic used by the Americans was to make fake equipment to confuse the Axis Powers and create an element of surprise. The Allies were trying to get the Axis Powers to think the Allies were going to invade Chalet instead of Normandy.