On June 6, 1944, the Allied Western powers succeeded in landing in Normandy in northern France. The invasion, which went by the name D-day , is the largest landing operation made in history.
Ever since Germany had attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, Stalin demanded that the Western allies would open a “second front” against Hitler’s armies in Europe. But the Western Allies felt for several years that they had no resources for it. First, Italy had to be defeated, as did the German submarines that ravaged the Atlantic and disrupted the supply of munitions and other supplies to Britain .
The plans for an attack on France, which was occupied by Germany, had therefore been planned for several years by British leader Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D Roosevelt . Thousands of landing craft had been built before the attack, as well as two artificial concrete harbors.
The D-day was carried out in two phases. The first stage consisted of an airborne attack that began shortly after midnight on June 6 with 24,000 airborne troops being landed by parachute or glider. In the second phase of the invasion, which began later that night, 5,000 ships shipped more than 150,000 soldiers in just 24 hours.
On the morning of June 6, the landing in Normandy was in full swing on five French beaches. The American, English and Canadian soldiers met fierce resistance. But the scattered and sparsely manned German defense was not enough. The Germans could not throw the attackers back.
The landing in Normandy meant that the Allies could continue to attack Germany from two sides, which sealed the fate of Nazi Germany and shortened World War II .
A Brief History about D-Days Facts
Fifteen minutes before midnight on June 6, 1944, three gliders landed on the Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal. At 01.00 the bridge was taken. Thus began Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, France. Day D had begun.
Stalin demanded a second front
Ever since Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Joseph Stalin had demanded that the Western Allies (England and the United States ) open “a second front” against Hitler’s armies in Europe. But the Western Allies did not consider themselves to have the resources to do so. First, Italy had to be defeated, as did the German submarines that ravaged the Atlantic and disrupted the supply of munitions and other supplies to Britain .
The plans for an attack on France , which was occupied by Germany, had been planned for several years by British leader Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D Roosevelt . Thousands of landing craft were built before the attack and two artificial concrete harbors were built.
Finally, June 5 was chosen as D-Day . But the invasion of Europe was postponed for 24 hours due to the bad weather.
Atlantvallen
When Hitler realized that he could not invade England, he began to build the so-called Atlantic Wall, which was a vast coastal defense facing the English Channel and the Atlantic. In 1944, Hitler commissioned his favorite general, Erwin Rommel , to expand and strengthen the Atlantic Wall. Thousands of slave laborers built huge fortifications in steel and concrete. In this Atlantic embankment there were 15,000 bunkers and about 300,000 soldiers. Rommel’s order to subordinate commanders was: “In the short time that remains until the great offensive begins, we must succeed in getting all defense facilities in such a condition that they can withstand the strongest attacks. The enemy must be defeated before he reaches the actual battlefield. We have to stop him in the water. “
Eisenhower gives the go-ahead – D-day begins
Early in the morning of June 5, Allied Commander-in-Chief Eisenhower signaled that the invasion of England would begin on June 6, even though everyone knew the weather was not good. The Germans believed that the attack would be directed at Calais, where the English Channel is at its narrowest. They were also surprised that the attack came when the weather was so bad.
During the first day, thousands of ships landed more than 150,000 men and 14,000 vehicles on five French shores. The Allies met fierce resistance.
The first landed troops managed to establish a bridgehead along the Normandy shores, despite massive opposition from the Germans. D-Day was a huge success for the Allies.
Omaha beach – an American carnage
Omaha was the hardest beach to take and the attack became a bloodbath for the Americans. This was because the American landing troops met experienced German soldiers who were well fortified. The Germans had positioned their weapons so that every meter of Omaha Beach was covered in fire. The basic weapon was machine guns.
Of the first wave’s 14 tanks, all were knocked out on the beach. On the eastern part of the beach, German soldiers sat in a bunker and fired machine guns for 9 hours, which cost the Americans 4,184 fallen or wounded. Afterwards, the American soldiers told of a German machine gunner they called “The Monster at Omaha”, it is said that he shot 2,500 Americans. Probably two Germans took turns handling the bunker’s machine gun.
Only after several hours of fighting did small groups of American soldiers succeed in advancing past the German strongholds. The Americans had too few amphibious tanks and they were launched far too far from land, which meant that several of them disappeared in the waves and sank. Of the 29 tanks, only two entered the beach. For a while, the Commander-in-Chief at sea considered stopping the attack and instead diverting forces to the Utah beach, which was some distance away. The author and war reporter Ernest Hemingway was present at the landing on Omaha Beach and described with horror how many young American soldiers were killed.
Losses
About 10,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded in the first day. The Germans’ losses are uncertain, but are estimated at between 4,000 and 8,000 killed and wounded.
The resistance movement
On 5 June at 6.30 pm, the BBC sent messages to the resistance movement in France. Each operating unit had found out in advance about their assignments and knew exactly what they were going to do. A resistance group of 40 people had the task of cutting off Normandy’s communications with the outside world by cutting the rough telephone cable from Cherbourg. Other groups would blow up an entire network of railway lines between Cherbourg and Paris .
Paris next
During the first week after D-Day, more than 360,000 soldiers and 54,000 vehicles were landed in Normandy. At the beginning of July, there were over 1 million Allied troops in France and more than 170,000 vehicles.
On August 15, 1944, the Allies also landed on the French Riviera, and on August 19, the people of Paris rebelled against the Germans, who had no choice but to withdraw from France as soon as possible.
In September, the Western Allies prepared to begin the invasion of Germany.