D-Day: The Invasion Of Normandy
When on D-Day-June 6, 1944-Allied armies landed in Normandy on the
northwestern coast of France, possibly the one most critical event of World
War II happened; for upon the outcome of the invasion hung the fate of
Europe. If the invasion failed, the United States might turn its full
attention to the enemy in the Pacific-Japan-leaving Britain alone, with
most of its resources spent in mounting the attack. That would enable Nazi
Germany to use all its strength against the Soviet Union. By the time
American forces returned to Europe-if indeed, they ever returned-Germany
might be in control of the entire continent.
Although fewer Allied ground troops went ashore on D-Day than ...
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seen and the
secret operations of tens of thousands of Allied resistance fighters in
Nazi-occupied countries of western Europe.
American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named supreme commander
for the allies in Europe. British General, Sir Frederick Morgan,
established a combinedAmerican-British headquarters known as COSSAC, for
Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander. COSSAC developed a number
of plans for the Allies, most notable was that of Operation Overlord, a
full scale invasion of France across the English Channel.
Eisenhower felt that COSSAC's plan was a sound operation. After
reviewing the disastrous hit-and-run raid in 1942 in Dieppe, planners
decided that the strength of German defenses required not a number of
separate assaults by relatively small units but a great concentration of
power in a single main landing. The invasion site would have to be close to
at least one major port and airbase to allow for efficient supply lines.
Possible sites ...
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targeted date of June 5, troops boarded ships,
transports, aircraft all along the southern and southwestern coasts of
England. All was ready for one of history's most dramatic events. One
important question was left unanswered though: what did the Germans know?
Under Operation Fortitude, a fictitious American force-the 1st Army
Group-assembled just across the Channel from the Pas de Calais. Dummy
troops, false radio traffic, dummy landing craft in the bay of the Thames
river, huge but unoccupied camps, dummy tanks-all contributed to the
deception. Although the Allied commanders could not know it until their
troops were ashore, their deception had been remarkably successful. As ...
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"D-Day: The Invasion Of Normandy." Essayworld.com. July 10, 2007. Accessed May 20, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/D-Day-The-Invasion-Of-Normandy/67821.
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