The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, in Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings commenced on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (D-Day), beginning at 6:30 am British Double Summer Time (GMT+2). In planning, as for most Allied operations, the term D-Day was used for the day of the actual landing, which was dependent on final approval.
The landings were conducted in two phases: an airborne assault landing of 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France starting at 6:30 am. Surprise was achieved thanks to inclement weather and a comprehensive deception plan implemented in the months before the landings, Operation Bodyguard, to distract German attention from the possibility of landings in Normandy. A key success was to convince Adolf Hitler that the landings would actually occur to the north near Calais. There were also decoy operations taking place simultaneously with the landings under the codenames Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable to distract the German forces from the real landing areas.
Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces was General Dwight Eisenhower while overall command of ground forces (21st Army Group) was given to General Bernard Montgomery. The operation, planned by a team under Lieutenant-General Frederick Morgan, was the largest amphibious invasion in world history and was executed by land, sea and air elements under direct British command with over 160,000 troops landing on 6 June 1944, 73,000 American soldiers, 61,715 British and 21,400 Canadian. 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were also involved. The invasion required the transport of soldiers and material from the United Kingdom by troop-laden aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. The landings took place along a 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
Read more about Normandy Landings: Operations, Deception Plans, Weather, Allied Order of Battle, German Order of Battle, Coordination With The French Resistance, Naval Activity, The Crossword Panic of 1944, War Memorials and Tourism
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... in counter E-boat operations in preparation for the Normandy Landings, which would take place a few months later ... full scale rehearsal of the Utah Beach landing on 28 April, Opportune engaged German E-boats which had sighted and engaged eight American landing craft ... The actual landings on 5 June were much less eventful ...
... The beaches at Normandy are still referred-to on maps and signposts by their invasion codenames ... The largest cemetery in Normandy is the La Cambe German war cemetery, which features granite stones almost flush with the ground and groups of low-set crosses ...
... several months of 1944, Ismay spent almost all of his time planning for the Normandy Landings ... were designed to deceive the Germans about the planned Normandy landings ... strategist and historian, had somehow discovered the secret plans for the Normandy landings ...
... The battery at Longues was situated between the landing beaches Omaha and Gold ... On the night before the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944, the battery was subject to heavy bombing from allied air forces ... followed from 0537hrs on the morning of the landings by bombardment from the French cruiser Georges Leygues as well as the U.S ...
... for formidably protected Omaha Beach with the initial landing force ... and all through that historic 6 June plied back and forth, landing additional troops and equipment, and evacuating casualties ...