D-Day
On June 6, 1944, 160,000 plus Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily guarded French coastline, to fight Hitler’s Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. D-Day was in full affect. This was one of the bloodiest battles to this day. Containing four major armies. The Allies included the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada and troops from Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland. The only country to participate from the Axis Powers was Germany. Many brave soldiers lost their lives on that terrible day. Although are casualties were hard to count on D-Day, they have been estimated at 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This includes over 209,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 dead ground forces and 16,714 deaths amongst the Allied air forces.
Code name: Operation Overlord was one of the largest amphibious invasions in history. About 7,000 naval vessels, including battleships, destroyers, escorts, minesweepers, and assault craft took part. They also carried out bombardments on German coastal defences before and during the landings and provided artillery support for the invading troops. The Navy was responsible for escorting over 132,000 men. This was known as Operation Neptune, the naval component of Operation Overlord. Louisiana entrepreneur Andrew Jackson Higgins first designed shallow-draft boats in the late 1920s to rescue flood victims. Higgins tried for years to sell his boats to the U.S. military, but he was rejected many times. Finally, the Marine Corps selected the flat-bottomed landing craft for troop landings on Normandy. Higgins, who had paid so much of his own money to promote this, finally landed the government contract. His factories produced 20,000 of the boats for the war effort, including D-Day. The Allies wanted everything to go accordingly. At night before the invasion mini subs crept up close to the beaches, swam to shore, took soil samples, swim back and sleep in the subs and repeat again the next morning. They did this to see if the soil would hold tanks and trucks.
Along with this Amphibious landing there was an air assault. Eisenhower and the rest of the combined leaders and planners knew that air power would be critical to success of Operation Overlord. Experience had taught planners to avoid facing hostile air power over the battlefront. Since this was the case the allies secured airspace from the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). This meant that the Luftwaffe would have to be destroyed. Allied air forces did so by flying over 14,000 aircraft in support of the landings.
Man power and lots of planning played a major role in this long, hard fought battle. As told above, the planning taken into this operation was insane. For example, planners were particular about the timing of D-day. They wanted a full moon, with a spring tide. They wanted to land at dawn on a flood tide, when it was about half way in. That meant there were only a few days that were appropriate. June 5th was chosen but it had to be delayed 24 hours for bad weather. Tricks were even played when the BBC ran a competition for Holiday photos of French Beaches. This was actually a way of gathering information for the right beaches to storm. They ended up picking five beaches, in which they later codenamed, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
On this bloody day, tons and tons of lives were lost. Men sacrificing their lives for their countries for a cause. These brave men sacrificed to win this long, hard fought battle. Four men received the Medal of Honor that day. The highest award in the U.S. army. D-Day was one of the major turning points in the war and paved the way for the Allies to gain back control of Europe.
Code name: Operation Overlord was one of the largest amphibious invasions in history. About 7,000 naval vessels, including battleships, destroyers, escorts, minesweepers, and assault craft took part. They also carried out bombardments on German coastal defences before and during the landings and provided artillery support for the invading troops. The Navy was responsible for escorting over 132,000 men. This was known as Operation Neptune, the naval component of Operation Overlord. Louisiana entrepreneur Andrew Jackson Higgins first designed shallow-draft boats in the late 1920s to rescue flood victims. Higgins tried for years to sell his boats to the U.S. military, but he was rejected many times. Finally, the Marine Corps selected the flat-bottomed landing craft for troop landings on Normandy. Higgins, who had paid so much of his own money to promote this, finally landed the government contract. His factories produced 20,000 of the boats for the war effort, including D-Day. The Allies wanted everything to go accordingly. At night before the invasion mini subs crept up close to the beaches, swam to shore, took soil samples, swim back and sleep in the subs and repeat again the next morning. They did this to see if the soil would hold tanks and trucks.
Along with this Amphibious landing there was an air assault. Eisenhower and the rest of the combined leaders and planners knew that air power would be critical to success of Operation Overlord. Experience had taught planners to avoid facing hostile air power over the battlefront. Since this was the case the allies secured airspace from the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). This meant that the Luftwaffe would have to be destroyed. Allied air forces did so by flying over 14,000 aircraft in support of the landings.
Man power and lots of planning played a major role in this long, hard fought battle. As told above, the planning taken into this operation was insane. For example, planners were particular about the timing of D-day. They wanted a full moon, with a spring tide. They wanted to land at dawn on a flood tide, when it was about half way in. That meant there were only a few days that were appropriate. June 5th was chosen but it had to be delayed 24 hours for bad weather. Tricks were even played when the BBC ran a competition for Holiday photos of French Beaches. This was actually a way of gathering information for the right beaches to storm. They ended up picking five beaches, in which they later codenamed, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
On this bloody day, tons and tons of lives were lost. Men sacrificing their lives for their countries for a cause. These brave men sacrificed to win this long, hard fought battle. Four men received the Medal of Honor that day. The highest award in the U.S. army. D-Day was one of the major turning points in the war and paved the way for the Allies to gain back control of Europe.
This is an anti-tank obstacle from Omaha Beach on D-Day. This was used to stop or slow down tanks.
This is shallow-draft boat used to deploy soldiers on D-Day.
This is a barrage balloon used on D-Day. It was used to block incoming fire on planes.
- Anti-Tank Obsacles. Digital image. Soldier Story. ANTI TANK OBSTACLES D DAY 1944, n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
- Barrage Balloon. Digital image. Barrage Balloon. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
- CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016
- "Home | D-Day | June 6, 1944 | The United States Army." Home | D-Day | June 6, 1944 | The United States Army. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 20
- PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.
- Shallow Draft Boat. Digital image. Memorial to WWII Boat Designer and Nebraska Native Andrew Higgins May Soon Rise on Utah Beach in Normandy. Omaha World-Herald, n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
- Talarico, By Jessica. "The 10 Things You Need To Know About D-Day." Imperial War Museums. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.