76 MAY/JUNE 2019THE GERMAN DEFENSIVE BARRIER known as the Atlantic Wall
included two areas that met the requirements for a massive
Allied invasion—beaches that were accessible to landing
craft, tanks, and other vehicles and were not too far from
British ports or from Germany, the ultimate objective. Suit-
able beaches around Calais were only 30 miles from the
port of Dover and 200 miles from the German border, but
their proximity to the Reich meant that they were well de-
fended. The other promising landing site—between the for-
tified ports of Le Havre and Cherbourg in Normandy—was
farther from Germany but was chosen because beaches
there were less heavily defended.JUNE 9, 1944
The Germans receive
intelligence, based on false
reports, that the landings
are a diversion. German
forces remain around
Calais, awaiting an invasion
there, until July.JULY 1944
Allied troops
expand their
foothold in France,
culminating in
the launch of
Operation Cobra
on July 25.JUNE 6, 1944
Allied troops land in
Normandy on D-Day,
suffering nearly
10,000 casualties
but securing all five
beaches assigned
to them.ALLIED
ASSAULT
ON EUROPE
PLANNING THE LANDING
A confidential folder (left)
of the type used for the
Allied planning of Overlord.
Rommel, pictured below
(front row, third from left)
inspecting a beach near
Calais in April 1944, made
sure that obstacles laid there
were also installed on the
Normandy coast. His request
to defend that coast with
armored divisions to meet
invaders head-on was denied.Piercing the Wall
SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER
EISENHOWER (CENTER) MEETS
WITH TOP OFFICERS IN EARLY 1944
AFTER ARRIVING IN LONDON.PRISMA BY DUKAS PRESSEAGENTUR GMBH/ALAMY STOCK PHOTOT
he Allied invasion of German-
occupied France that began in the
early hours of June 6, 1944, was
long in the making. By gaining su-
premacy in the Atlantic in 1943, the
Allies had cleared the way for a huge buildup of
American troops and equipment in Great Brit-
ain. Between January and June 1944, nine million
tons of supplies and 800,000 soldiers crossed
the Atlantic from the United States to bolster
the invasion, designated Operation Overlord.
Meanwhile, Allied pilots exploited their hard-
won superiority over the diminished German
Luftwaffe by blasting French railways and bridg-
es to keep their foes from rushing reserves to
Normandy when troops landed there. Anglo-
American commanders battle tested in North
Africa and Italy, including American Dwight D.
Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery of the
United Kingdom, prepared to lead invasion
troops against their old foe, German general
Erwin Rommel, assigned to strengthen French
coastal defenses while the bulk of the German
Army struggled to hold back resurgent Soviets
on the Eastern Front.The German Wall
Planning for Operation Overlord began in
London more than a year before the invasionPOPPERFOTO/GETTY IMAGESJUNE 5,1944
After postponing the
invasion of Normandy
because of bad weather,
Supreme Allied
Commander Dwight
Eisenhower gives the
go-ahead.KENNETH W. RENDELL, INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF WORLD WAR II