The Invasion of Normandy
James Beckman
Operation Overlord
Formal planning for the invasion of Northeastern Europe began in 1943. British troops began to search the coast for the best point to strike and began to draw assault plans. Allied leaders decided upon Spring of 1944 to set a target date of the invasion. In December of 1943 Dwight D. Eisenhower was chosen as the commander for this invasion, after his successful invasions in North Africa, and Italy. After the acceptance of The Normandy Coast in France Eisenhower decided to increase the assault forces. This increase made the Invasion of Normandy the largest amphibious invasion in History. The plan for "Operation Overlord" included nine divisions of sea and land troops and over 150,000 men along a 60 mile piece of coast and a 24 hour long invasion.
Invasion Site
The main objective of the allied forces was to convince the Nazi's that the invasion was indeed happening, but not at Normandy. They wanted to convince Hitler that the invasion was to take place at Calais. The allied forces built large fake armies to convince reconnaissance aircraft that the allies were preparing troops near Calais. In Spring of 1944 the allies used bombers to destroy all bridges and railroads near Normandy and Calais. Hitler bought the trap and moved the majority of his troops to Calais.
The Invasion
On June 6th the sky, sea, and beaches were covered with allied troops. 11,000 aircraft 6,000 naval vessels and over 2 million soldiers, sailors and airmen were involved in the invasion from 15 different countries. On Utah Beach there were 200 casualties and the invasion was over by noon. And by 10 pm on June 6th the allied forces were in Europe sustaining 5,000 casualties.