A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

The Tide Turns 1095

The D-Day Invasion of France

At Teheran, Stalin and Roosevelt convinced Churchill to accept a plan
for the invasion of France. General Dwight Eisenhower coordinated the
“D-Day” landing in France, “Operation Overlord.” Born in a small town in
Kansas, Eisenhow'er was a forthright man of integrity. Beneath his sparkling
blue eyes, folksy manner, and smile lay shrewdness, cunning, and a remark­
able ability for organization. The plan was for 1 50,000 troops to attack the
English Channel beaches of Normandy in western France, followed in the
next days and weeks by almost 500,000 more. About 4 million tons of sup­
port materiel would have to be landed as well. Floating caissons and old
ships sunk off the coast would provide three makeshift harbors. In the
meantime, German commanders believed that the most likely place for an
all-out assault was near Calais to the north, which offered the closest cross­
ing points from England.
The first hours of Operation Overlord would be crucial. The Allies
needed to take and protect a beachhead that would allow the bulk of their
troops to get ashore quickly. Planes would drop squadrons of parachutists
behind German lines. Hitler had assigned Rommel to organize the German
defense against the Allied invasion. Defenders would depend on the rapid
arrival of armored units to back up the coastal batteries and infantry units
trying to hold their positions against attacking Allied troops.
After a one-day postponement because of a gale, at dawn on the morning
of June 6, 1944, Allied troops struggled ashore in shallow water from land­
ing craft and established beachheads on the coast of Normandy. They con­
fronted murderous fire from the cliffs above, taking heavy losses. But the
landing succeeded, at least in part because the German air force was out­
numbered by 20 to 1. As more men, tanks, trucks, and materiel came ashore,
German troops gradually fell back. By the end of July 1944, despite fierce
resistance, the Allies held most of Normandy. After seven weeks, the Allies
had landed 1.3 million troops and sustained over 120,000 casualties. The
Germans lost 500,000 men trying to defend Normandy. Hitler allowed
Rommel, discovered to have known about the plot against the Fiihrer’s life,
to escape execution by committing suicide.
On August 15, 1944, another Allied army landed on the French Mediter­
ranean coast and moved up the Rhone Valley with little opposition. In the
meantime, the main Allied army pushed from Normandy toward Paris.
Encouraged by the proximity of Allied troops, on August 19, an uprising
began in Paris. Because de Gaulle demanded that a French unit be the first
to reach the capital, French forces reached Paris on August 22, 1944. In
October the British government recognized de Gaulle’s administration as
the legitimate government of France.
German resistance stiffened at the Rhine River, and the first Allied
attempts to cross into Germany failed. Hitler, whose moods varied between
wild optimism and resigned depression, had aged rapidly through recurring