D-Day

The Normandy Invasion

Imagine yourself as one of hundreds of American soldiers on landing boats crossing the English Channel to be the first wave to hit the Normandy coastline of France. You look around and see the sickened faces of your fellow brave soldiers puking and praying for their lives, as for they know that this in the largest sea born invasion ever, and the Nazi Germans have lined all of their beaches with strong defenses. You and millions of English, American, and Canadian soldiers will triumph this brave day for the freedom of many European nations, and the end of Nazi German reign. From great planning, the great beach invasion was very successful and it would influence everyone for generations to follow. The actions and results that occurred on June 6, 1944 in Normandy, France changed the course of World War II and leading to the downfall of the Nazi Germany.

This assault, also called D-Day and Operation Overload had enormous amounts of planning go into it and that is a main reason for its success. First of all, years before the German forces drove back and conquered all of current day France as part of their Western dominance. Now German forces inhabited France and major cities like Paris. The Allied (US, Great Britain, Canada) commanders that hoped to drive out the Axis Alliance (Germany, Italy, and Japan) were Dwight D. Eisenhower and the British General Sir Bernard Montgomery ("France Invaded by the Allies,"). The main idea and goal of their plan, which started in March of 1943, was to "Overload" the weak defensive position and then continue to the inland and hope to get to Paris. The attack would come from land, air, and sea. From the sea, over six thousand nine hundred ships were to be used, and four thousand and one hundred of them were landing craft that was used to carry soldiers. More impressively might have been the twelve thousand aircraft joining in, which consisted of one thousand gliders and other transport planes to drop paratroopers behind the enemy lines ("The Battle of Normandy"). An important part to setting up this attack was the trickery that led the Germans to believe the real attack was at a different area called Pas de Calais. This trickery greatly influenced the Germans therefore causing them to help the defensive position there. Even in case of a different invasion the generals at Pas be Calais were told to keep their men standing guard there, as it still seemed to be the target area. On the other side of everything, German field general Gerd Von Rundstedt, was also preparing for the evident invasion. Rundstedt time and time again asked for reinforcements, but all he received was little men and another general named Erwin Rommel. He realized the ports were not main targets because of walls. This meant that the beaches were a likely target. He was able to line a mass majority of the coast with steel obstacles and booby-traps. The Allies made the final adjustment, which was planning for the weather conditions. Since this invasion involved sea and sky, conditions would have to be perfect for the plan to be carried out. Some of those conditions were a full moon, little to no wind, no low clouds, and a low tide at dawn. The full moon was needed as a light to guide the noiseless and undetected gliders, while no wind was needed for a smooth time on the water while all the boats crossed it. The low tide was needed to in order for the landing craft to get over the obstacles placed by Rommel. Finally, the low clouds would serve as a nuisance for the aircraft pilots as they try to find their targets ("The Battle of Normandy").

On June 6th, 1944 these conditions were nearly perfect and the invasion promptly began at dawn. While paratroopers landed inland in small towns, fighter and bomber planes bombed railroad stations, bridges, telegraph stations and any other mode of communication or transportation. On the beaches and inland on D-Day, over ten thousand tons of bombs were dropped and the Allies seemed to control the air. Most beach operations went somewhat as planned except the bloody area called Omaha Beach. This area was guarded by the best troops, and one soldier describes the scenario, "Within 10 minutes of the ramps being lowered, [the leading] company had become inert, leaderless and almost incapable of action. Every officer and sergeant had been killed or wounded [...] It had become a struggle for survival and rescue". ("The Battle of Normandy"). On this beach alone two thousand four hundred casualties occurred. After the first day of intense fighting most Allies forces have set up beachheads and lodgments. Those are when the men set up on the beach defending that area and waiting for reinforcements in continue up the beach. Although D-Day was one day in which the beaches were to be conquered; the Normandy invasion was far from over. The Allied soldiers faced a quick counterattack by a strong Panzer Tank squad which pushed them all the way back to the ocean. Within the following weeks crucial cities and ports were taken such as Cherbourg and Caen. Finally, on August 25th, 1944 Paris was liberated (The World War II Multimedia Database). Liberation means to be freed, and that is exactly what happened to Paris and the civilians of Paris, who were freed from the communist Nazi German control. Over one thousand and five hundred French citizens and resistance members were killed during the fight for freedom. These war-changing events were extremely influential in the outcome of the war.

The German