On June 6, 1944, the Allied Forces, under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, landed the largest amphibious invasion in history on the shores of Normandy, France.
The landing, also known as D-Day, was the culmination of months of planning and succeeded against the Nazi regime thanks to the brave fighting of soldiers, many of whom never returned from the beaches.
Eighty years later, the world stops to remember the heroism and ultimate sacrifice made by so many on D-Day.
In 1943, the Russian Army had begun to push the Nazi forces back after a heroic stand at Stalingrad. The Germans nearly captured Stalingrad in 1942. Adolf Hitler's troops engaged in door-to-door combat in the city as the Russians refused to surrender.
The Russians, aided by a brutal winter, surrounded the German 6th Army in the city and laid siege. The Germans eventually had to surrender in 1943, and that was one of the key turning points in stopping Hitler's push to the East.
All the while, the Russian leaders were asking for fellow Allied armies to truly open the Western Front.
Against that backdrop, Eisenhower and his team began planning the invasion. The Germans had 55 military divisions in France, and the Allied armies needed to catch them by surprise.
Landing a massive force in France required deception and expert planning. Hitler's generals had determined that when the Allied armies invaded, it would most likely happen at Pas De Calais, where the English Channel was narrowest.
Eisenhower played into that belief by constructing a fictional army made of inflatables and wood to fool the Germans into thinking that was the planned landing area.
June 5, 1944, was originally scheduled to be D-Day. However, that morning, the weather prevented the invasion from beginning, and the attack was postponed for 24 hours.
Meteorologists told Eisenhower there was a window of clearer weather on June 6, and the Supreme Commander gave the order to go.
General Eisenhower issued a statement to the troops that read in part, "The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you...Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, (sic) and battle-heartened. He will fight savagely...The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!"
Just after midnight on June 6, over 18,000 Allied paratroopers were dropped into the invasion area of northern France for support, and air forces flew 14,000 missions in support of the invasion.
Then, the full invasion began with nearly 7,000 naval vessels and landing, moving to the beaches of Normandy. More than 130,000 troops from the Allied powers landed on the beaches that day, with many cut down on the beaches, including the fiercest fighting on Omaha Beach.
By the end of the day, casualties numbered more than 10,300. The exact number of German casualties from the D-Day invasion is unknown but estimated to be between 4,000 and 9,000 men killed, wounded or missing.
But, the sacrifice of the brave men who fought through unspeakable horror and carnage on those beaches turned the tide against Hitler. The success of the D-Day landing established a Western Front in World War II in Europe.
In less than a year, the Eastern and Western fronts met in Berlin. The Nazi leader committed suicide, and the German army unconditionally surrendered on May 7, 1945.
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