Today marks the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy France
The Allied invasion of the European continent through Normandy began
about 12:15 a.m. on June 6, 1944 (D-day). The plan, known as Operation
Overlord, had been prepared since 1943; supreme command over its
execution was entrusted to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Just after midnight on June 6, British and American airborne forces
landed behind the German coastal fortifications known as the Atlantic
Wall. They were followed after daybreak by the seaborne troops of the
U.S. 1st Army and British 2d Army. While the naval guns and Allied bombers assaulted the beach fortifications,
the men swarmed ashore. At the base of the Cotentin peninsula the U.S.
forces established two beachheads, Utah Beach and and
Omaha Beach, the scene of the fiercest fighting. British
troops, who had landed near Bayeux on three beaches called Gold, Juno,
and Sword, advanced quickly but were stopped before Caen.
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