The Normandy Landings (D-Day) free essay sample

The Normandy Landings or most commonly known as D-day was one of the significant battles in the Second World War It lasted from June 1944 to August 1944. The battle was codenamed â€Å"Operation Overlord† and began on 6 June 1944. Over 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on the coast of Normandy in France. The invasion was one of the largest recorded in history and this meant extensive planning. The part that made D-day so successful was that the Allies made a deception campaign which mislead the Germans to think there wasn’t going to be an invasion. By the end of August 1944, all of Northern France was freed from the German’s rule and by the following year the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy Landings have been called the start to the end of the Second World War. Preparation Once World War II had begun, Germany started to invade and occupy North-Western France in May 1940. We will write a custom essay sample on The Normandy Landings (D-Day) or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Americans entered the war in December 1941. By 1942 the Americans and the British were considering the possibility of an Allied invasion across the English Channel. The following year, the Allies planned for a cross-Channel invasion to begin but it didn’t work out so well. In November 1943, Adolf Hitler who was aware of the chance of an invasion along France’s northern coast put Erwin Rommel in charge of defence operations in the region, even though the Germans did not know exactly where the Allies would strike. In January 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower was appointed commander of Operation Overlord. In the months before D-Day, the Allies carried out a massive deception operation to make the Germans think the main invasion was to take place at Pas-de-Calais (the narrowest point between Britain and France) rather than Normandy. They also led the Germans to believe that Norway and other locations were also potential invasion targets rather than Normandy. Weather Delay Eisenhower selected June 5, 1944, as the date for the invasion; however, bad weather on the days leading up to the operation caused it to be delayed for 24 hours. On the morning of June 5, after his meteorologist predicted improved conditions for the following day, Eisenhower gave the nod for Operation Overlord the following day. Later that day, more than 5,000 ships and aeroplanes carrying troops and supplies left England for the trip across the Channel to France. According to some estimates, more than 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives in the D-Day invasion, with thousands more wounded or missing. Less than a week later, on June 11, the beaches were fully secured and over 326,000 troops, more than 50,000 vehicles and 100,000 tons of equipment had landed at Normandy. Landings in Normandy The Germans got confused because at the time commander Rommel was away on leave. Hitler didn’t believe that the invasion at Normandy was legit. He thought it was a phantom attack designed to distract the Germans from an attack that was to come north of the Seine River. The army was delayed due to the fact they had to bring them in from further afield, causing delays on the defence. The Germans were also affected by effective Allied air force, which bombed many main bridges and forced the Germans to take long detours to get to the battlefield. By the end of June 1944, the Allies had seized the port of Cherbourg. By the end of August 1944, the Allies had reached the Seine River. Victory in Normandy By the end of August 1944, Paris and north-western France was freed from the German’s rule, concluding the Battle of Normandy. The Allied forces then prepared to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet troops moving in from the Russia.