Operation Overlord saw some 156,000 Allied troops land in Normandy on June 6, 1944.
As many as 4,400 are thought to have been killed in an operation which Winston Churchill described as ‘undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place’.
The attack was carried out in two phases: an airborne landing of 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French air troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armored divisions on the coast of France beginning at 06:30.
The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with more than 160,000 troops landing. Some 195,700 Allied naval and merchant marine personnel in more than 5,000 ships were involved.
US Army troops in an LCVP landing craft approach Normandy’s ‘Omaha’ beach on D-Day at Colleville Sur-Mer, France, June 6, 1944. As infantry disembarked from the landing craft, they often found themselves on sandbars 50 to 100 meters located away from the landing gear. beach. To reach the beach they sometimes had to wade through neck-deep water
US Army troops and crew members aboard a Coast Guard manned LCVP approach a beach on D-Day. After the initial landing, soldiers found the original plan in tatters, with so many units landing incorrectly, disorganized and scattered. Most commanders had fallen or were absent, and there were few ways to communicate
An LCVP landing craft from the USS Coast Guard attack transport USS Samuel Chase approaches Omaha Beach. The goal was for the beach defenses to be cleared within two hours of the initial landing. But stubborn German defenses delayed efforts to take the beach and led to significant delays
A U.S. Coast Guard-manned LCM landing craft evacuating American casualties from the invasion beaches brings them to a transport for treatment. An exact figure for casualties sustained by V Corps at Omaha on June 6 is not known; sources vary between 2,000 and more than 5,000 killed, wounded and missing
The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with more than 160,000 troops landing. Some 195,700 Allied naval and merchant marine personnel in more than 5,000 ships were involved.
The landings took place along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
The assault was chaotic with boats arriving at the wrong point and others getting into trouble in the water.
Devastation in the northern French town of Carentan after the invasion in June 1944
Forward 14/45 guns of the US Navy battleship USS Nevada fire on positions ashore during the D-Day landings on Utah Beach. The only artillery support for the troops making this tentative advance was from the navy. Finding targets difficult to spot, and fearing to hit their own troops, the big guns of the battleships and cruisers concentrated fire on the flanks of the beaches
US Navy minesweeper USS Tide sinks after striking a mine, while its crew is assisted by patrol torpedo boat PT-509 and minesweeper USS Pheasant. When another ship tried to tow the damaged ship to the beach, the strain broke her in two and she sank only minutes after the last survivors had been unloaded
A US Army medic moves along a narrow strip of Omaha Beach providing first aid to men wounded in the D-Day Normandy landings in Collville Sur-Mer. On D-Day, dozens of medics fought on the beaches of Normandy, usually without a weapon. Not only did the number of wounded exceed expectations, but the means to evacuate them did not exist
Troops only managed to gain a small foothold on the beach – but they built on their initial breakthrough in the coming days and a port was opened at Omaha.
They encountered strong resistance from the German forces stationed at strong points along the coastline.
About 10,000 allies were injured or killed, including 6,603 Americans, 2,499 of whom were fatal.
Between 4,000 and 9,000 German troops were killed – and this was the decisive moment of the war, in favor of the Allied forces.
The first wave of US Army troops take cover under fire from Nazi guns in 1944
Canadian soldiers study a German plan of the beach during D-Day landing operations in Normandy. After the beachhead was secured, Omaha became the location of one of the two Mulberry Harbours, prefabricated artificial harbors towed across the English Channel in pieces and assembled just offshore
US Army Rangers show the ladders they used to storm the cliffs they assaulted in support of Omaha Beach landings at Pointe du Hoc. By the end of the two-day action, the initial Ranger landing force of 225 or more had been reduced to about 90 fighting men