D-Day

Planning

• Soviets had done most fighting in Euro.• Stalin wanted a U.S. and G.B. attack– Churchill nervous

– Couldn’t cross Channel because of U-Boats

• Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet in Teheran, Iran November 1943

• Massive Allied invasion to be called Operation Overlord

Invasion of Normandy

• Supreme Commander – Eisenhower• Involved 21 American divisions and 26 British,

Canadian, and Polish divisions• Strike beaches of Normandy• Code names: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and

Sword• Patton’s fictional army in southeast England

Beaches of Normandy

Timeline of D-Day

• 00:00 Hours– Airborne Landing Begins

• Paratroopers were to take care of roads and bridges– Darkness and foreign territory killed many

• 03:00 Hours– Heavy Bombing Raids

• Massive raids against German defense positions

• 04:00 Hours– Allied Invasion Fleet Arrives

• 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 ships and 500 naval vessels arrive

Timeline Cont.• 06:30 Hours– U.S. Landings Begin

• Land at Utah and Omaha– Tide carried the landing craft away from targets at Utah

• 07:25 Hours– British and Canadian Landings Begin

• Land at Sword and Juno• 12:00 Hours– British and Canadian forces push inland

• 2,00 Americans killed and wounded at Omaha and only gained 2,000 yards

Timeline Cont.

• 16:00 Hours– Hitler Authorizes German Counter Attack• Realized that the real attack was not at Calais

– Sent 1st Panzer Corps

• Total Landed Troops: 130,000 by sea and 29,000 by air

War Correspondence on D-Day