DK - World War II Map by Map

186 TURNING THE TIDE 1943–1944

English

Channel

Au

re

To

uq

ue

s

USS

Augusta

HMS

Scylla

Utah

Utah

Omaha

Omaha

Gold

Gold

Juno

Juno

Sword

Sword

Isle

of Wight

UNITED KINGDOM

F

R

A N

C

E

FORCE G

30th Mobile

Division

352nd Infantry

Division

709th

Infantry

Division

243rd Infantry

Division

91st Infantry

Division

21st Panzer

Division

711th Infantry

Division

716th Infantry

Division

FORCE S

FORCE J FORCE L

FORCE O

FORCE U

From Dartmouth

From Portland

From

Falmouth

From East Coast

Southampton

Portsmouth

Cherbourg

Le Havre

Cabourg

Merville

Brighton

Newhaven

Shoreham-by-Sea

Caen

Bayeux

Grandcamp-

Maisy

Creully Douvres

Bénouville

FORCE B

At the Washington Conference of May 1943, the Allied leaders met

to discuss their future strategy in Europe, and set a date of May 1944

for the invasion of France. Numerous sites for the offensive were

considered. The obvious choice, an invasion across the narrowest

part of the Channel to France’s northernmost point, the Pas-de-Calais,

was ruled out because it was the most heavily defended. Normandy

was favored for the broad front it offered into central France.

The naval operations, led by British admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay,

were described by historian Correlli Barnett as a “never surpassed

masterpiece of planning” and involved a 6,939-strong invasion fleet.

This consisted of 1,213 warships, 4,126 landing craft, 736 ancillary

craft (including minesweepers), and 864 merchant vessels from

eight different Allied navies, carrying 176,000 troops in all. German

defenses consisted of around 50,000 troops and 170 artillery guns.

Allied planners identified the ideal conditions for the landings—

low tide, clear skies, and a full moon—and suggested a window of

June 5–7. Poor weather on June 5 delayed the landings by a day, but

even so the seas remained rough when the invasion began in the

early hours of June 6, 1944. A naval and aerial bombardment was

followed by an airborne and amphibious assault by troops from

the US, Britain, and Canada under the supreme command of

US general Dwight D. Eisenhower.

THE D-DAY

LANDINGS

On June 6, 1944, the largest seaborne invasion in history

took place on the beaches of Normandy. Code named

Operation Neptune, and usually referred to as D-Day,

it began the liberation of France and the opening of

another front in Europe.

THE DECEPTION PLAN

The Allies convinced Hitler that their attack would be centered on the

Pas-de-Calais using a variety of methods. A bogus US 1st Army Group

with fake tanks was created in south-east England. As the real invasion

fleet headed for Normandy, naval launches headed to Calais and Boulogne

towing barrage balloons to create radar echoes similar to those of troop

ships. Dummy parachutists were also dropped in the area.

Allied troops lift an

inflatable decoy tank

OPERATION NEPTUNE

All five landing beaches were given code names—

from west to east: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno,

and Sword. The Allied goal was to link up the

four easterly beaches and establish a front line

10 miles (16 km) inland from the coast no later

than midnight on June 6.

KEY

Allied territory, Jun 6

Axis territory, Jun 6

Normandy beaches

Allied gains,

Jun 6

Allied objective

at 12:00 midnight

Jun 6

1

2

3

4

TIMELINE

JUN 5, 1944 JUN 6

5

6

7

JUN 7

▽ After the fighting

US soldiers at Omaha Beach cover their

dead and dying. Their landing craft sunk

by German artillery, these troops could

only reach Omaha by using a life raft.

German mine barrier

German gun batteries

German infantry divisions

German panzer division

ASSEMBLY 5 PM JUNE 5–6:30 AM JUNE 6, 1944

The invasion fleet assembled in the English Channel

and passed through gaps in the German minefields in

the Channel known as “The Spout” early on June 6.

Thousands of Allied planes attacked targets on the

French coast and combed the skies for enemy aircraft,

unleashing a naval bombardment at 5:45 am as ships

neared the shore. US airborne pathfinders and

paratroopers landed to the west, and British airborne

troops to the east of the invasion force, to guard the

flanks of the landing beaches.

1

Invasion fleets

Follow-up fleets

Assembly area

“The Spout”

Flagships

Airborne troops

US LANDINGS ON UTAH BEACH

6:30 AM–END OF DAY JUNE 6, 1944

The first US troops landed on Utah beach at 6:30 am.

Strong currents pushed their landing craft 1 mile

(1.8 km) to the south, but their new landing site turned

out to be more favorable than the intended one.

There, US troops set up a beachhead and made

contact with airborne troops. By the end of the day,

21,000 troops had landed with just 197 casualties.

2

US landing craft US troop movements

US_186-187_D-day_landings.indd 186 22/03/19 2:39 PM