The History of D-Day

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The History of D-Day

June 6, 1944 will be remembered for many reasons. Some may think of it as a

success and some as a failure. The pages following this could be used to prove

either one. The only sure thing that I can tell you about D-Day is this: D-Day,

June 6, 1944 was the focal point of the greatest and most planned out invasion

of all time. The allied invasion of France was long awaited and tactfully

thought out. For months the allied forces of millions trained in Britain

waiting for the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, General

Eisenhower to set a date. June 6, 1944 was to be the day with the H-hour at

06:30. Aircraft bombed German installations and helped prepare the ground

attack. The ground forces landed and made their push inland. Soon Operation

Overlord was in full affect as the allied forces pushed the Germans back towards

the Russian forces coming in from the east. D-Day was the beginning and the key

to the fight to take back Europe.

Preparations for D-Day

Operation Overlord was in no way a last minute operation thrown together. When

the plan was finalized in the spring of 1944 the world started work on preparing

the hundreds of thousands of men for the greatest battle in history.

By June of 1944 the landing forces were training hard, awaiting D-Day.

1,700,000 British, 1,500,000 Americans, 175,000 from Dominions (mostly Canada),

and another 44,000 from other countries were going to take part.

Not only did men have to be recruited and trained but also equipment had to be

built to transport and fight with the soldiers. 1,300 warships, 1,600 merchant

ships, 4,000 landing craft and 13,000 aircraft including bombers, fighters and

gliders were built. Also several new types of tanks and armoured vehicles were

built. Two examples would be the Sherman Crab flail tank and the Churchill

Crocodile.

On the ground Britain assembled three armoured divisions, eight infantry

divisions, two airborne divisions and ten independent fighting brigades. The

United States had six armoured divisions, thirteen infantry and two airborne

divisions. With one armoured division and two infantry divisions Canada also

contributed greatly with the war effort especially when you look at the size of

the country at the time. In the air Britain's one hundred RAF squadrons (1,200

aircraft) paled in comp...

... middle of paper ...

... disaster in the first hours and started

to break through the German defences. At the British run beaches of Juno, Gold

and Sword the forces had averaged a push inland of six miles. Even with the

amount of landing soldiers numbering about seventy-five thousand, the casualties

between the three beaches were only approximately three thousand.

D-Day was the beginning of the end for the Germans in Europe and the end of the

beginning for the fight for Europe. I'm not saying that everything went

according to plan on D-day and there wasn't any errors. I am also not saying

that it was a complete disaster. I am saying that D-Day was on paper, with

objectives for each division and a craft for each infantry unit, the greatest

battle of all time.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction pg. 1

II. Preperation for D-Day pg. 2

III. Beachfronts

A. Utah Beach pg. 4,5

B. Omaha Beach pg. 7,8

C. Gold Beach pg. 10, 11

D. Juno Beach pg. 13

E. Sword Beach pg. 15

IV. D-Day Air Battle pg. 17

V. Conclusion pg. 19

VI. Bibliography pg. 20

Bibliography

D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of World War II Stephen E. Ambrose,

Simon &

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