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WWII reference page General Eisenhower's determination that operation OVERLORD (the invasion of France) would bring a quick end to the war is obvious in this message to the troops of the Allied Expeditionary Forces on June 6, 1944, the morning of the invasion. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. The Dwight D. Eisenhower But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.   In December 1943 President Roosevelt appointed General Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander, with orders to "Enter the Continent of Europe, and in conjunction with other United Nations, undertake operations aimed at the heart of Germany and the destruction of her armed forces" The original codename for this invasion was "Operation Roundup"
This was eventually changed to "Operation Overlord"
The enormity of this task cannot be over stated, by the early months of 1944 Britain was a virtual army camp with 3.5 million troops, soldiers, sailors and airmen all training for the mammoth task that lay ahead. British, American, Canadian, Australians and New Zealanders, French, Belgians, Norwegians, Poles and Czechs along with the Dutch, all with the same objective. The Liberation of Europe from the Evil clutches of Hitler's occupation.
American troops, weapons and vehicles were shipped across the Atlantic to Britain for almost two years, this operation was code named "Bolero". Imagine an airforce consisting of 13,000 aircraft and 3,500 gliders! this was assembled for the great assault.
1,200 fighting ships, 1,600 merchant ships and 4,000 assault craft of various descriptions were at anchor in ports all over the southern coasts of England, including Cardiff in South Wales.
To keep the build up of all these men and their equipment a secret from the German spy network was an achievement in itself, but a secret it remained, many south coast towns were closed to the public, to prevent spying eyes
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Since 1942 British Intelligence had been gathering as much information as possible, looking for a suitable landing ground for the Liberating forces, one of the main priorities being, that the landing beaches had to be in range of fighter air cover from southern England. The shortest and most accessible point was the Pas de Calais, this would give the allies a very short supply line indeed. The Germans under the command of Field Marshall Von Rundstedt also came to this conclusion, and therefore concentrated on reinforcing the Atlantic wall defences in this area. The Pas de Calais was such an obvious landing area, the Allies decided against it, and went for their other location:- Normandy. It was agreed that five landing beaches, covering a distance of 40 miles would be used. Five divisions would attack in the first wave, with four more divisions landing in the following 24 hours. The Americans would land on the beaches which lay either side of the River Vire estuary, these were codenamed, "OMAHA" and "UTAH" The British and Canadians would land on the eastern beaches which stretched to the River Orne estuary. These would be codenamed, "SWORD" "JUNO" AND "GOLD" Montgomery realised that both flanks of the sea borne landing had to be covered, he decided that airborne troops would be dropped at night to secure these positions. The British 6th. Airborne would be dropped to the eastern flank, and the American 101st. and 82nd. Airborne would be dropped to the west. The beach landings were to take place at dawn, therefore, the airborne landings had to take place at night. A full moon was required for this to be successful. The only time the moon, tides, and winds would be in the right phase was for three days, starting Monday June 5th. Erwin Rommel, Monty's old adversary was given command of Army Group B in July 1943, taking over the defence of Belgium and northern France in December that year. Rommel was of the opinion that the likely invasion site would be at the Pas de Calais and he personally supervised the construction of the Atlantic Wall. He knew that whenever and wherever the invasion force landed, it had to be defeated on the landing beaches, that was imperative. He had obstacles constructed on the beaches the full length of the Normandy coast, these were designed to rip the bottom out of any landing craft, and many did. The obstacles that were positioned on the landing beaches, were designed so that landing craft approaching at high tide would not see them. Some of them had mines attached, the result of hitting these was catastrophic and many men died never reaching the beach.Rommel realised that an invasion of the beaches would also be accompanied with a massive airborne assault,he had areas of land flooded to hinder the progress of airborne troops, this was very successful for him, as many of the troops perished in these swamp areas, laden down with heavy equipment and ignorant of the trap. ROMMEL KNEW THE FIRST TWENTY FOUR HOURS WERE VITAL FOR BOTH SIDES AS HE TOLD HIS MEN "IT WILL BE THE LONGEST DAY"  THE LANDING GROUNDS      Bloody Omaha 6:30 A.M. The first wave of assault troops approached their landing grounds!! These were the men of the 16th. Regimental Combat Team of the First Division and the 116th. Regimental Combat team of the 29th. Division. The Navy had been shelling the beach for some time prior to the assault, unfortunately the shells and rockets fell way short of any German defences. Similarly the bombs dropped by the American airforce completely missed there intended targets, leaving the German defenders at full strength to oppose the incoming troops. The German 352nd. Infantry Division along with the 716th. Static Division were well dug in overlooking the landing beach. The American troops were taken by complete surprise, as they expected only minimal opposition. It soon became apparent that a major disaster was taking place, many landing craft were sunk miles from the beach, others hit the obstacles lying in wait beneath the surface of the water, the D.D. Floating Tanks sank like stones!! their crews trapped, perished inside the vehicle.. Only six of these tanks reached the beach!! Most of the heavy Artillery pieces never reached the beach, sinking in the heaving tides! The first wave was completely overwhelmed and took tremendous casualties. More and more troops were landing on the beach and the situation was becoming so serious that General Bradley observing the battle from the U.S.S. Augusta was making preparations to abandon the assault. British and American Destroyers were sent in close to shore to literally blast at the German fortifications to try and relieve the situation on the beach. The current of the sea was so strong that many men were landing up to two miles from their intended positions.
The following 24 hours saw heavy fighting, with the Canadians losing more men than they did on D-Day. Even then only the northern area of Caen was taken, the Germans maintained their grip on the southern and eastern parts of the city. Shaef headquarters were now getting impatient, for the victory at Caen. Montgomery knew he had to deliver. During this time the Americans were taking Cherbourg but were finding it difficult to advance on St. Lo. OPERATION GOODWOOD The British Infantry at Caen took terrific losses!! It was decided by Monty's 2nd. in Command, Leftenant-General Dempsey to mount a major push using Bomber Command and Artillery bombardment. This was followed by the British 11th. Armoured Division moving up to take on the German defenders, most of which had been killed during the bombardment, others quickly surrendered in a total state of shock. The German Panzers who survived the bombardment quickly re-grouped and gave the 11th. Armoured a terrific battle. BR> Literally hundreds of tanks were destroyed, the combined efforts of the British 8th. Corps and the 3rd. British Division along with the 2nd. and 3rd. Canadian Divisions finally secured Caen. The enormity of the Battle of Caen cannot be related to on a web-site like this. Thousands of men on both sides were killed, hundreds of pieces of heavy armour destroyed. Fortunately for the Allies the battle was won and the lock to Normandy had been opened.  GOLD BEACH, THE WESTERN MOST POINT OF THE BRITISH BEACHES. This was the landing ground for the 50th. Northumberland Division. The D-Day objective being, to take the beach and move inland seven miles to Bayeux to meet up with American forces coming off Omaha at Port en Bessin. Unlike the American landings, the British landed at 7:25 a.m. almost an hour later. The German defences were known to be of a very high calibre at this location, they included the 716th. Static Division along with the 352nd. Infantry Division. Following a massive bombardment by the Royal Navy the landing craft were deployed from seven miles out from shore, this gave them a lot shorter run in than the Americans who deployed twelve miles from shore. Due to the heavy seas, it was decided not to launch the D. D. Tanks from their landing craft, but actually run them straight up to the beach head, this was an extremely successful decision, as, unlike at Omaha, the British infantry had the protection of heavy armour landing with them on the beach and this certainly prevented a massacre, the like of which had been experienced on Omaha. H.M.S. Warspite and H.M.S. Ramillies off the coast of Normandy. The bombardment was aimed at the German coastal batteries and was very successful. The shelving sand at Gold beach meant the landing craft grounded earlier than expected, and the men had a long way to wade ashore, this was the last thing they needed. The first wave came under heavy fire from the German defenders and the 1st. Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment suffered the loss of their commanding officer and also their second in command within minutes of landing! Second to land were the Commandos of the 4th. Special Service Brigade, they suffered tremendous loss with only one of their landing craft actually reaching the shore! The commandos were not used as front line infantry but were designated special missions, No. 47 Royal Marine Commando had the objective of Port en Bessin, which was taken after a tremendous fire fight on June 7th. Men of the 50th. Division storming Gold Beach 6th. June 1944. Heavy armour can be seen being landed at the same time, this was the key to the success of the landings on Gold Beach. The 69th. Brigade Group came ashore with their special equipment known as "Funnies" and helped clear a path for the invading forces.  The infantry can be seen here coming ashore on Gold Beach with the added protection of the D.D. Tanks (Duplex Drive). Unlike the Americans at Omaha the British didn't launch the D.D.'s but brought them ashore on their landing craft, a brilliant decision as every one of them were brought into action almost immediately on hitting the beach.
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