D-Day
June 6, 1944
Even before America's entry into the war, Britain was forging plans to
return to the Continent, if only as a contingency. With America's entry into the war,
planning was accelerated. Operation Torch, the landing in
North Africa, diverted Anglo-American attention to the
Mediterranean. With North Africa captured, the Allies
landed on Sicily, then southern
Italy, dashing American hopes for a landing in France
in 1943. Although German defenses in 1943 were poorly developed,
whether or not the US Army was ready for a large scale campaign in
northwestern Europe is open to doubt.
With the spring of 1944
now scheduled for the landing, and Normandy the location, great
intelligence operations
code named Bodyguard and Fortitude deceived the Germans into thinking
that the Allied landing would be in other locations, specifically near
Calais. Plans for a landing in May were
delayed until June, which allowed for the addition of Utah Beach, which
was intended to facilitate a quick capture of the port of
Cherbourg.
A port, then many ports, would be needed to support the invasion,
but to supplement natural ports, the British designed and built an
artificial harbor to help supply the
invasion. This harbor, code named Mulberry, allowed the Allies to
land at Normandy, away from the heavily defended Calais area, but still
within range of air support.
The date was set for a full moon to aid the night-time airborne landing coinciding
with low tide in the early morning. The intent was to avoid beach
obstacles and to achieve surprise in the low light of
early morning. Bad weather on June 5th lead to a postponement
to June 6th, when an opening in the weather was forecast.
Two airborne divisions, the American 82nd and 101st
were dropped behind Utah Beach at night to help open up the causeways
from the beach and the mainland - but also to protect this isolated
beach from counterattack. The American 4th Infantry Division was
landed on Utah beach. In the most intense fighting, the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions were
landed on Omaha Beach. On the British, or eastern, end of the
invasion, the 6th Airborne Division was dropped, including glider
troops to capture a bridge over the Orne,
protecting that flank from German counterattack. Two British
divisions and
one Canadian division were landed on Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches.
It would be the largest amphibious
invasion in history.
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Copyright 2010-11, John Hamill