In 1944 the largest invasion in history began with Operation Neptune or more commonly known as “D Day”.
Since the 4th of June 1940, the British army had waited for an opportunity to launch a large land invasion of mainland Europe and to take the fight to the Germans. The 4th of June 1940 was the last day of the epic evacuations at Dunkirk where the Royal Navy and British civilians rescued 335,000 allied forces from the German Army. Then on the 22nd of June 1940 Germany was successful in conquering France, Britain’s main ally against the Axis Powers which at the time consisted of Germany, Italy and Japan and by now much of Europe was in their control.
In 1939 Russia signed several pacts with Germany exchanging raw materials from Russia for German military equipment as well as a pact which carved up Europe into Spheres of Influence for their separate political ideologies. But the Fascist leaders of the Axis would not tolerate the opposing views of Communist Russia for long and on Hitler initiated Operation Barbarossa which was the invasion of Soviet Russia. Russia resisted Germany’s advance at great cost and opened up an Eastern front against Germany in retaliation.
The Allied powers of had many successful campaigns against the Axis powers but it would take a mass invasion, the size of which had never been seen, in order to Liberate occupied Europe.
Only one other country in the world had the resources required to mount such an invasion was the United States of America but they had were not, as yet, at war. after Japan attacked the US at pearl Harbour on the 7th of December 1941 they declared War on Japan the following day. On the 11th of December, after war was declared on the US by Germany and Italy, the United States also declared war on Germany and Italy joining the Allied nations.
Plans for the invasion between the United Kingdom and the United States began in 1943 and for the operation to be a success it took immense planning and reconnaissance. The Germans had heavily fortified the coast in anticipation with mines and heavy artillery. The planned landing or operation Neptune was set for May 1944 but was postponed until more favourable weather conditions such as thick cloud to help cover the huge fleet of ships from spotter planes.
Many deceptive tactics were employed by the Allies as operation Bodyguard which involved fake invasions and inflatable tanks in order to confuse the enemy on the date and proposed landing destination.
On the 5th of June the decision was made for the operation to go ahead the following day and that evening over 1,000 Allied planes pound the beaches of Normandy with several thousand tons of explosives while the 3,000 allied ships are preparing to cross the English Channel to France. Just after midnight 24,000 Allied troops were dropped behind the coast to attack enemy artillery that would be used against the main landing force. By 6:30 am the first wave of troops were being deployed from boats along the 50 mile stretch of coast. The beaches along the coast were designated Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword and Utah with different divisions assigned to each beach. Gold Beach was assigned to the British 50th Northumbrian Infantry, Juno was assigned to the 3rd Canadian Infantry, Omaha was assigned to the US first division, Sword was assigned to the British 3rd Infantry and Utah was assigned to US 4th division.
Despite the heavy bombardment of the coast the fortifications were and German defences were strong. On the first day of fighting only Juno and Gold beaches were captured with huge losses on Omaha due to the cliff face. Of the 156,000 Allied troops involved in operation Neptune and estimated 12,000 were killed. But thanks to their heroism operation Overlord, the capture of Normandy was a success and within a year Germany was defeated.
