D-Day | A Kick Of History

 Hi everyone and welcome to A Kick Of History! Today we will be talking about D-Day and what happened in it. I really hope you enjoy this post, and lets get started! All of my info is from this site: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day

So first of all, what is D-Day? Well, D-Day is the day of the Normandy Landings. This was during World War II. This day was June 6, 1944. From then on, we celebrate this day of the year to remember the Normandy Landings in France. We also have this day to honor the people who fought to end World War II.  Now that we have that down, let's see how it all started. 

After World War II started, Germany had already invaded and taken occupation of northwestern France starting in May 1940. The Americans had entered the war soon after in December 1941. By 1942 the Americans and the British were taking into consideration, the possibility of an Allied invasion that was across the English Channel. The year after that, the plans for a cross Channel invasion got higher. Hitler, knowing this threat, put Erwin Rommel in charge of defense operations that were in the region. He gave Rommel the duty of finishing the Atlantic Wall. This wall was fortified with bunkers, landmines, beach, and water obstacles. 

In January of 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower was made the commander of the Operation Overload. In the days before D-Day the allies of America brought into motion a huge deception operation. This operation was supposed to make the Germans think that the target was Pas-de-Calais instead of Normandy. Also, the Americans and their allies also made the Germans believe that Norway and other places were invasion targets. Lots of tactics were used to make this huge deception. Things were used like: fake equipment, a fake army that was commanded by George Patton, double agents, and finally fake/fraudulent radio transmissions.  

Eisenhower initially scheduled June 5, 1944 as the day of the invasion. But, this did not happen because there was bad weather on the days that lead up to the operation. This then made the operation delay by 24 hours. The morning of June 5, after the meteorologists predicted better weather for the following day, General Eisenhower gave the final go-ahead to commence Operation Overload. He told his troops: "You are about to embark upon a Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you." 

A little later in the day, 5,000+ ships and landing craft that carried troops left England. They left for a trip across Channel and France. Meanwhile, more than 11,000 aircraft were put to work in order to give cover in the air and provide support for the invasion. 

At dawn on June 6, 1944, many paratroopers and glider troopers were on the ground and behind enemy lines. The started securing bridges and exit roads. The invasions started at 6:30 am. This was when the British and Canadians overcame opposition and captured beaches codenamed Gold, Juno and of course, Sword. The Americans also did this at the Utah Beach. Then, the U.S Forces had heavy resistance at the Omaha Beach. There were over 2,000 American casualties because of this. Although, by the end of the day about 156,000 Allied troops stormed Normandy's beaches successfully. Some estimates say that 4,000+ people lost their lives and many more were wounded or missing during the D-Day landing.

The Germans ended up suffering from confusion in the ranks, also the absence of the celebrated commander Rommel, who was away on leave at the time. In the beginning, Hitler seemed to believe that the invasion was meant to distract the Germans from coming to an attack on the north of the Seine River. Because of this, he refused to send other divisions to join the counterattack. 

In the coming weeks, the Allies were fighting their way across the countryside in Normandy with a very determined German resistance. By the end of the month of June, the Allies had gotten the port of Cherbourg. They had also landed about 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles in Normandy as well. The Allies were ready to continue marching across France. 

By the end of August, the Allies finally reached Seine River. Paris became liberated and the Germans were taken away from the northwestern part of France, concluding the Battle of Normandy. After that, the Allied forced prepared to enter into Germany. There they would meet up with the Soviet troops that were heading in from the east. 

The Normandy invasion started to turn the tables for the Nazis. It was a big psychological blow, it prevented Adolf Hitler from sending his troops from France to build his eastern Front up against the incoming Soviets. That following spring, on May 8, 1945, the Allies formally accepted an unconditional surrender from then, Nazi Germany. But before then, a week earlier actually, Hitler had committed suicide on April 30. 

There we have it my friends, D-Day and how we got here! I really hope you guys enjoyed and learned something! Let us remember those who fell, and I will see you all next post!