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The D-Day invasion is significant in history for the role it played in World War II. D-Day marked the turn of the tide for the control maintained by Nazi Germany. Less than a year after the invasion, Nazi Germany surrendered.
During World War II, the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. The battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest military assaults in history and required extensive planning.
D-Day connects to this theme because there was conflict amongst countries and the power struggle. There were several effects, including economic ones - more supplies were able to be brought into France to reinforce the Allied front.
D-Day was originally planned for June 5th, 1944. Dwight Eisenhower, the Allied supreme commander chose to delay the invasion due to poor weather. The Allied ships, planes, and troops were stationary at this point. They concealed their invasion plans by deploying dummy armies and setting up fake tanks and radio chatter.
Around 7,000 thousand ships leave Britain in the dark - the ships were filled with Allied troops. The troops are assigned to 5 landing points with code names. U.S. army is placed at Utah and Omaha beaches, Canadian troops are at Juno beach, and British troops are assigned to Gold and Sword beaches.
The Allied planes and aircraft fly over Normandy. Bombers begin destroying the coastline, paratroopers are dropped, and personnel carriers fly inland. The paratroopers are able to cut off some of the Nazi supply lines. Some of the paratroopers are grouped but some are scattered - this made made it hard for them to get in position.
The German Navy detects the Allied ships, but the ships they detected were the ones sent to distract from the real target - Normandy. The Allied ships at this point are anchored off of Normandy waiting for dawn.
More paratroopers are being dropped into France - around 13,000 thousands and 4,00 thousand more on paragliders. The Germans notice the paratroopers and begin to worry and scramble.
Allied battleships start firing at the Nazi defenses while the first landing ships head ashore. German and Allied ships clash in the first skirmishes at sea.
The Allied battleships stop firing as their landing boats approach the shore at 6:30 a.m. German forces fire at the landing boats with gunfire, killing Allied troops before they can reach the beach. The landing ships are tightly packed together, and they suffer heavy casualties under the German assault. The Allies manage to land their troops, and the fight for the beaches begins.
American troops face heavy machine-gun fire on Omaha Beach, the most heavily fortified landing point of the invasion. Approximately 2,500 U.S. soldiers are killed on the beach in the bloodiest fight of the day.
Eisenhower announces the invasion has begun in a messages to the soldiers. The Allied forces send a separate statement announcing the invasion to the media.
Canada’s force of 14,000 troops takes Juno Beach and presses inland. British and American forces, including those at Omaha, take control of their beaches as well. The Allies bring in tanks, tend to the wounded and clear away mines on the beaches. They also start pressuring German forces at Caen. Hitler finally agrees to send reinforcements to Normandy rather than waiting for an assault at Calais.
At least 4,000 Allied soldiers are killed in the initial attack. However, the invasion ultimately prevails, and the German forces are either killed, captured or forced to withdraw to Caen. The Allies have won the day and taken their first step toward liberating Europe. They continue to ferry troops and equipment across the Channel, and have materials in France by the end of June.
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History.com Editors. “D-Day.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009,
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day.
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Now.” A Place To Stand, 6 June 2014, https://matthew.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/d-days-importance-then-and-now/.