Battle of Normandy
| Invasion of Normandy | |||||||
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| Part of Operation Overlord (World War II) | |||||||
 Into the Jaws of Death by Robert F. Sargent. Assault craft land one of the first waves at Omaha Beach. The U.S. Coast Guard caption identifies the unit as Company E, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Allies
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Axis | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Dwight Eisenhower(Supreme Allied Commander)  Arthur Tedder (Deputy Supreme Allied Commander) Bernard Montgomery (21st Army Group, Ground Forces Commander in Chief) Trafford Leigh-Mallory (Air Commander in Chief) Bertram Ramsay (Naval Commander in Chief)
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 Gerd von Rundstedt (Oberbefehlshaber West) Erwin Rommel (Heeresgruppe B) Friedrich Dollmann (7.Armee Oberkommando) † |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 1,332,000 (by July 24)[1] | 380,000 (by July 23)[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| July 24: ~120,000 casualties[1] |
July 24: 113,059 casualties[1] |
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The Battle of Normandy was fought in 1944 between the German army and the Allied forces as part of World War II. Sixty years later, the Normandy invasion, codenamed Operation OVERLORD, is the largest invasion by sea in history, involving almost three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to Normandy in then German-occupied France.
The main Allied forces came from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, but a total of twelve nations contributed units, the rest being Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.
Contents |
The Landings[change]
Sword Beach[change]
Sword Beach was the easternmost beach on D-Day, and was attacked by the British 3rd Infantry Division, supported by units of the 79th Armoured Division. It was successful.
Juno Beach[change]
Juno Beach was the next beach to the west. It was attacked by the Canadian 3rd Division. It was also successful.
Gold Beach[change]
Gold Beach was the "middle" beach, lying between Sword, Juno, Omaha, and Utah beaches. It was attacked by the British 50th (Northumbrian) Division.
Omaha Beach[change]
Omaha Beach was the second western-most beach. It was attacked by the American 1st Division. The bombardment before the assault was successful on every beach except Omaha, so German bunkers and artillery still remained. The battle was hard, but eventually the Americans won. Almost 2,500 Americans died on Omaha Beach.
Utah Beach[change]
Utah beach was the western-most beach. It was mostly successful, and it was attacked by the American 4th Division.
References[change]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tamelander, M, Zetterling, N (2004), Avgörandes Ögonblick: Invasionen i Normandie. Norstedts Förlag, p. 295
- ↑ Zetterling 2000, p. 32
Other Websites[change]
