What is D Day?

D Day People Which politicians influenced D Day? Who were the leaders on D Day? The French Resistance on D Day What is D Day Blog	What is D Day? D Day was the day on which the Allied Forces commanded by General Dwight Eisenhower sealed the fate of Adolf Hitler's occupation of Europe in World War 2. The Normandy Landings, as they became known, eventually saw 175,000 American, British, French, Polish, Norwegian, Dutch and Canadian troops of the Allied Forces land on the fields and beaches of Normandy, France. D Day was the term used by the Allied Forces for the Normandy Landings and it was on 6th June 1944 when, at 6.30am, troops came ashore to establish a foothold in France from which they could fight the German forces to move further inland. The Normandy Landings (Operation Neptune) were part of the larger Operation Overlord. The Normandy Landings came in two parts, namely the airborne division assault of 24,000 troops after midnight, and the seaborne, amphibious landings of the armoured and infantry divisions on D Day. The Normandy Landings occurred on five areas of the coast which were known as Gold, Juno, Sword, Omaha and Utah which stretched along a 50 miles (80 kms) of the French coast. The Allied decoy operations (Operations Glimmer and Taxable) successfully led the German forces to believe that the main invasion would take place further up the coast near Calais.
D Day Beaches & Landings Gold Juno Sword Omaha Utah Pointe du Hoc	Where it all happened In order to give the seaborne landings the best chance possible of succeeding on D Day, the Normandy Landings began with airborne troops being parachuted or flown in with gliders. Their tasks were to secure the left and right flanks of the landings and to hold the Germans up from getting to the beaches to counter-attack the amphibious invasion. On D Day , the airborne assault secured key bridges, junctions and gun emplacements across the whole area which were occupied by German forces. The western flank of the Allied Forces on was secured by the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division, with the British Army securing the eastern flank which included airborne assault by British paratroopers. The Allied Forces beaches were codenamed Gold, Sword, Juno, Omaha beach and Utah beach. Gold and Sword were where the British Army landed, with the Canadians at Juno beach, and the Americans at Omaha and Utah beaches. The American Rangers secured a headland, known as Points du Hoc, which was the place of a large battery of guns which could shell the beaches and disrupt or stop the landings.
Key D Day Locations German Defences Pegasus Bridge Pointe Du Hoc Ste Mere Eglise The Mulberry Harbour	What were the key locations on D Day to ensure the Normandy Landings succeeded? The defences of the German forces in Normandy were part of what was known as 'The Atlantic Wall' which was a series of important points along the English Channel. Within the Atlantic Wall were many coordinated gun points, observation posts and machine gun nests to defend the coast from Allied invasion by the German forces. The Allies had to take key points within this defensive network, including what is known now as 'Pegasus Bridge', Pointe Du Hoc, Ste Mere Eglise, the 'Mulberry Harbour' at Arromanches, and the battery at Merville. There were many other important points for the Allies to take to stop the Germans forces driving the amphibious forces back into the sea and other actions later in the offensive in the days that followed D Day.