Boom! Sizzle! The date is June 6th, 1944. The sound of bombardment of the beaches of Normandy, France reaches your ears on the day of the famous invasion, called D-Day. D-Day is the largest amphibious operation to date, and played a huge role in World War II. The battle is often considered the start of the turning point of the war. D-Day changed the momentum of the war through precise planning, execution, and the Allied Victory of the battle.
D-Day was affected largely by its extensive planning. At this point in the War, the Axis powers had dominated everything and a Nazi victory was very much real. Germans dropped leaflets on soldiers and the public, to deter them from fighting and supporting …show more content…
War Effort Campaigns were set up to make people feel they were directly contributing to the war. Furthermore, concerts for soldiers and public were organised to keep people’s spirits up. France, An important ally of the Allied forces, had been invaded and put out of commision in May, 1940. Luckily, America recognised the threat of Germany, and joined Britain and the Soviet Union in the fight against the Axis powers on December 11, 1941. By 1942, America and Britain considered the possibility of a major Allied Invasion across the Channel and push the Germans out of France. Adolf Hitler, who was aware of a potential invasion, put Erwin Rommel, Also known as “Desert Fox” in charge of defending the Northern Coast of France. The Germans did not know where the attack would take place, but Allied Forces made sure that the Germans thought that an invasion would only come at Pas de Calais by the introduction of Operation Bodyguard. This fake operation included pulling the legendary General George Patton from Italy, to take charge of a fake army. Fake information about the fake operation was …show more content…
Operation Overload, as it was technically called, is the largest amphibious operation in history. It started on June 6th, 1944 in Normandy, France. Even with the extensive planning, General Norman Cota, a strong operational leader, warned his troops to expect the unexpected. There were minimal German forces defending the area, concluding that Operation Bodyguard had worked. 14,674 sorties(one round trip to target and back by plane) were flown in a mere 8 hours. During the invasion, Dwight D. Eisenhower, A five star general and later, the 34th president of the United States, talked in a broadcast to the people of German-occupied Europe promising their liberation. Strategy on D-Day was critically important to this massive invasion. For example, two bridges, called the Pegasus and Horsa bridges were key for German reinforcements to reach Normandy. The night before the attack, two gliders landed near these bridges, carrying a couple Allied soldiers. The soldiers easily defeated the German guards and captured the bridges. This prevented reinforcements from meeting the landing troops. Allied troops were dropped out of planes to capture the Merville battery. The anti-aircraft guns on the battery scared the pilots and the paratroopers were dropped too early and critical supplies like mortars, radios, and mine detectors were lost or too damaged to use. Even with these problems, the Allied troops ousted out the