-Difficulties in assembling landing craft forced a postponement until June, but June 5 was fixed as the unalterable date by Eisenhower on May 17.

-As the day approached, and troops began to embark for the crossing, bad weather set in, threatening dangerous landing conditions.

-After tense debate, Eisenhower and his subordinates decided on a 24-hour delay, requiring the recall of some ships already at sea. Eventually, on the morning of June 5, Eisenhower, assured of a weather break, announced, "O.K. We'll go." Within hours an armada of 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vessels--escorts and bombardment ships--began to leave English ports

-That night, 822 aircraft, carrying parachutists or towing gliders, roared overhead to the Normandy landing zones. They were a fraction of the air armada of 13,000 aircraft that would support D-Day.

-Fighting inshore, the Allies also encountered difficulty.

-Thanks to the success of the airborne landings, the flanks of the beachhead were firmly held, but efforts to break out of the centre were frustrated by fierce German resistance and counterattacks, particularly around Caen in the British-Canadian sector.

-In fact, the Germans were also depressed, for their bitter defense was using up men and equipment that could not be replaced.

-Americans were now able to profit from the deployment of most of the enemy's armour against the British to break into the base of the Cotentin Peninsula and advance on Cherbourg. The last bastion in the heavily fortified city fell on June 28, and clearance of the port began at once.

-Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel "The Desert Fox" is probably the best known German Field Marshal of World War II. He served in France, Italy and Romania in the German Army during the First World War. He won the Pour le Merite, Imperial Germany's highest decoration, for his actions in the Battle of Caporetto.

-Rommel was forced to commit suicide in October, Kluge did so on August 18

-By July 25, with most of the German tanks drawn westward by the British Goodwood offensive, the Americans faced a front almost denuded of armour.

-Hitler saw the breakout as an opportunity to restore the front, but the offensive was stopped and defeated in its tracks.