D-Day : Normandy Landings

Introduction: May 6 1944, the allied forces were ready to liberate

France from German control

The plan was to conduct landings on the beaches of Normandy

This was codenamed Operation Overlord Would be later known as the largest amphibious

invasion in history

To land and secure five beaches, spanning 50 miles along the coast of Normandy

To liberate France from German occupation, then to make their way on to Germany to end Hitler’s reign

Operation objectives

Pictured here are Stalin, Roosevelt , and Churchill planning for the landings

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U.K

Cana

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Allied forces knew that Hitler was prepared for a beach assault, so Operation Bodyguard was created.

It was to make Hitler think that they were

going to be attacking the Pas de Calais. Hitler

sent a large force to defend the Pas de Calais

and did not realize the diversion until

it was too late.

Plan : To build up fake armies and equipment

to fool Germans reconnaissance into thinking

a attack was imminent

Deception Plans

Rubber inflatable tanks were used like this one

Decoy aircraft were also used

Although the Germans thought that the Allies were going to attack Pas de Calais, Hitler set up defense along the coast for security. He sent his best general Rommel to ensure the beachfronts were secure.

There were many reinforced pillboxes, machine gun nests, anti tank, AA cannons and light artillery as well as mines placed underwater.

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German Defenses

Rommel inspecting defenses

German defense battery

“They built around 15,00 fortifications and defenses”

The Landings were split into two different phases; Operation Neptune (By sea & land) the assault phase, and by air.

By Air : Allied paratroopers take off to Normandy and the

air assault successfully lands 24,000 American, British and Canadian troops

Allied bombers were also scheduled to begin bombing runs at 0500 hours (5 am)

The paratroopers came from many forces such as the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the British Special Air Service

Allied Operations

Paratroopers get ready to deploy

Main job was to capture bridges to eliminate possibilities of German counter attacks

Operation Neptune The Allied soldiers arrived to the beaches in

the largest fleet of ships ever (7000)

Within a few hours 5,000 Allied casualties and only 1,200 German casualties

Omaha beach had the highest casualties, Juno beach following with second highest and Utah beach with the lightest casualties

Allied Operation Cont.

Landing forces at beach head

Sword Beach: The 1st Special Service Brigade arrived with low casualties but failed to complete some objectives

Juno Beach: The Canadian Forces that were at Juno landed 30,000 men and were one of the most successful, and the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division pushed further into France than any other Allied force, despite having faced strong resistance at by elements of the German 21st

Gold Beach: 25,000 men were landed, but with heavy casualties

Omaha Beach: Landed 50,000 men but the heavy resistance only left 2 surviving tanks out of 16. All objectives were completed though

Utah Beach: The landing crafts were pushed to a wrong location because of a strong current. They were pushed to a less defended position and the only casualties were 197 out of the 23,000 landed

Operation Overview

Canadian troops approaching Juno beach

By the end of D-Day, the Allies landed 130,000 men by land and 29,000 by air

France was liberated because of the Landings and the Allies would advance through Europe liberating other countries

The Normandy Landings was a turning point in the war and caused Germany to surrender in 1945

Outcome

Alfred Jodl signs an unconditional German surrender, thus ending WWII

Casualties on both sides was approximately 425,000 men-2700 British-946 Canadians-6603 Americans-German Casualties unknown, but estimated between

4000-9000

Results