CNN
—
June 6, 2024 marks 80 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundation for the Allied powers to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II.
Codenamed Operation Overlord, the invasion saw tens of thousands of troops from countries including the United States, Britain and Canada land on five sections of Normandy, France’s coastline codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches.
Planning for D-Day began over a year in advance, with the Allies carrying out massive military deception to confuse the Germans about the timing and location of the invasion.
The operation was originally scheduled to begin on 5 June 1944. Although a full moon, low tides and good weather were expected, a storm caused a 24-hour delay. Allied divisions began landing on five beaches at 6:30 a.m. on 6 June.
What does D-Day stand for?
The term “D-Day” is military code for the start of a major operation, with the first “D” standing for “Day,” meaning D-Day actually stands for “Day-Day.”
According to the Royal Legion, the term “D-Day” was frequently used before the Allied invasion in June 1944. However, the two have since become synonymous, and D-Day is now commonly understood to refer to the start of Operation Overlord.
According to the Imperial War Museum (IWM), D-Day saw unprecedented cooperation between international militaries, with more than two million troops massing in the UK in preparation for the invasion.
According to the IWM report, most of these troops were from the United States, Britain, and Canada, but troops also came from Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Poland to take part in Operation Overlord.
The Allied invasion was coordinated across land, air, and sea and was characterized as an amphibious landing.
These operations were preceded by large-scale bombing campaigns and deception tactics designed to undermine German defenses.
Operation Bodyguard is a general term for a series of deception strategies leading up to the Allied invasion of Europe in June 1944. Operation Fortitude is a sub-terminology of tactics, specifically related to the Normandy invasion, that was intended to deceive Nazi Germany into believing that the initial Normandy attack was merely a diversion and that the real invasion would take place elsewhere.
According to the IWM, Operation Fortitude North was a plan to trick the Germans into believing that the Allies were planning to attack Norway, while Operation Fortitude South was a plan to trick the Germans into believing that the Allies were planning to invade the Pas-de-Calais, a French department in northeast Normandy near Britain.
American forces were stationed at Utah Beach at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula and Omaha Beach at the northern end of the Normandy coast, followed by British landings at Gold Beach, followed by Canadian landings at Juneau, and finally British landings at Sword, the easternmost point of the invasion.
By midnight the force had secured a beachhead and was moving further inland from Utah, Gold, Juneau, and Sword.
However, not all landings were successful, and strong currents at Omaha Beach swept many landing craft from their intended positions, delaying and hindering the invasion and causing heavy losses to American forces.
Heavy artillery fire from German positions on steep cliffs that had not been effectively destroyed by Allied bombardment prior to the invasion also caused casualties.
According to the IWM, the German response to Operation Overlord was “slow and confused”.
Although the weather remained poor on 6 June and many of the senior commanders were away from their posts, Operation Fortitude convinced Adolf Hitler that the Normandy landings were a diversionary operation before a larger assault on the Pas de Calais.
The Luftwaffe was operating elsewhere, countering American bombing raids over Germany, and the German Navy’s ships were either in port or had already been destroyed by the Allies. According to the IWM, the defense against Operation Overlord was the sole responsibility of the German military.
In addition, the success of Operation Fortitude meant that an attack on the Pas de Calais was still expected, so many army units were kept out of the Normandy theatre until July.
The IWM said German coastal defence forces “did as well as could be expected” but were ultimately “silenced” as Allied forces advanced inland.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), approximately 4,440 Allied soldiers are confirmed to have been killed on D-Day alone, and more than 5,800 are wounded or missing.
Omaha Beach was the bloodiest landing beach and the US military lost the most soldiers in the invasion. According to the CWGC, approximately 2,500 US soldiers died during the D-Day beach assault and airborne operations.
The exact number of German casualties that day is unknown, but estimates range from 4,000 to 9,000.
Of the tens of thousands of soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, 44 were soldiers, sailors and airmen from Bedford, Virginia.
Within minutes of arriving on Omaha Beach, 16 of them were killed and 4 wounded. One Bedford soldier died elsewhere on Omaha Beach, and three others were presumed to have died in the fighting, bringing Bedford’s D-Day death toll to 20.
According to the National Normandy D-Day Memorial Foundation, Bedford suffered the highest per capita casualties in the United States during the Normandy D-Day landings.
Although the Allied forces had secured strongholds on the French coast on D-Day, they faced the risk of being pushed back into the sea by German artillery fire.
They needed to get troops and equipment to Normandy faster than the Germans could to continue their invasion of mainland Europe.
The Allied forces used air power to destroy bridges, railroads, and roads in the region, slowing the German advance into Normandy, which allowed them to fully seize control of the city after 77 days and advance on Paris, liberating it in August 1944.
The US Department of Defense calls D-Day “the successful beginning of the end of Hitler’s tyranny,” and the IWM calls it “the most significant victory for the Western Allies in World War II.”
The Allied forces were able to get their troops into Normandy and begin their advance into Northwestern Europe. World War II continued in Europe for nearly another year, but the success of Operation Overlord liberated France and allowed Allied forces to fight the German army in Nazi-occupied Europe.
The US National WWII Museum says that to understand the significance of the Normandy landings, it’s best to imagine what would have happened if the mission had failed, which would have prevented another landing for at least a year, according to the museum.
During this time, Hitler could have strengthened the coastal defenses of Nazi-occupied Europe, developed aircraft and weaponry, intensified bombing raids on Britain, and continued his killing campaign, the museum says.
Fighting between the Allied forces on the Western Front and the Russian forces on the Eastern Front ultimately led to the defeat of the German Nazi forces.
On May 7, 1945, the Third Reich signed the document of unconditional surrender in Reims, France. The following day is celebrated as Victory in Europe Day (VE Day), as this is the day the armistice went into effect.
