Today in 1944, Allied troops land at the shores of Normandy, France in order begin liberating Western Europe from the Nazis. Operation Overlord had a sole plan of landing at Normandy and pushing through France to reach Germany. While the Americans and British landed in France, The Soviets would reach Germany from the eastern front. By meeting in the middle, at Germany, the Allies hoped they could corner the Nazi’s and end the War. The night before, General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the go ahead for the largest amphibious military operation in history. With the order to go, the Allies left for France with 6,000 boats carrying 176,000 troops. In addition, 822 aircraft left carrying parachutists as well as another 13,000 planes for air support.
On the morning of June 6th, 18,000 parachutists were already on the ground and the invasion began at 6:30 a.m. The Allies had strong success at beaches code named: Gold, Juno, Sword, and Utah. Struggle was found however, at Omaha beach. The Allies lost over 2,000 troops alone at Omaha , making it the beach commonly associated with D-Day. Nazi troops fired down with machine guns on the Allies storming the beach. Having little cover, Allied troops had to move quick to reach success and stay alive. It was through the strength and wit of the Allied troops that even the Omaha invasion was a success. By the end of the day, 155,000 Allied troops successfully landed in Normandy. Three months later, the Allie would control France and prepare to enter Germany. The ultimate success of the D-Day landing played a key role in winning the war.
