The Normandy Invasion

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The Normandy Invasion
06-06-1944
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Commanders
Dwight D. Eisenhower General Eisenhower was the
Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary
Force. He was in charge of all of the allied
forces that would assault the Normandy coast and
Europe for the remainder of the war. Eisenhower
made the final call to go ahead with the mission
after days of poor weather. Eisenhower
personally visited troops before the invasion and
issued the letter to the left.
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Commanders Erwin Rommel Rommel along with Von
Rundstedt were the commanders of German forces in
the Normandy Region. Rommel was one of the
Germans most famous generals. In charge of
developing coastal defense as part of Hitlers
Atlantic Wall. His preparation was key to what
would occur if the allies decided to invade at
Normandy. The fortifications that were
developed as part of his plan caused the lives of
many of the invading Allied soldiers.
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Airborne Forces
American Airborne Forces were comprised of the
82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. Including the
British 1st Airborne Division nearly 12,000
soldiers were dropped in the early morning of
June 6th. Their objectives were to take and hold
key road junctions to prevent German
counterattack.
Though suffering losses and being greatly
miss-dropped across the Normandy region the
Airborne troopers were able to succeed in many of
their objectives. Though, some were so lost that
they did not meet up with their units until two
to three days after the invasion.
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Through the Eyes of a Veteran
June 6th with the 82nd Airborne
Bud Ollman 505th PIR 82nd Airborne Miss-dropped
in Normandy and found himself alone for much of
the night. Made every combat jump with the 82nd
during ww2. Wounded during the battle of the
bulge. Received a silver star during the holland
campaign.
Picture taken at Charles City WW2 reenactment.
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Through the Eyes of a Veteran
Hans Sanas 502nd PIR 101st Airborne
Division Fought with the 101st throughout Europe
and as seen in this picture from the national
archives met General Eisenhower before taking off
for Normandy.
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INVASION BEACHES
Utah Omaha Gold Juno sword
The brunt of the invasion force came to France
aboard Higgins boats and landed at code named
beaches. The most intense fighting of the
invasion occurred at Omaha beach.
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Omaha Beach
630 a.m.
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Omaha beach
The fighting at Omaha Beach was the bloodiest of
the invasion. The American 1st, and 29th
Infantry Divisions made the first assault across
the beach. The 2nd Ranger Battalion also landed
at Omaha. After the beach head had been
established American losses neared 3,000.
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Utah Beach
Confused by smoke the landing craft delivered to
the wrong spot on the beach. The fighting at Utah
Beach was much lighter than any other invasion
beach. American 4th Infantry Division carried out
the assault and lost just over 900 men. Lowest
casualties of any beach.
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Aftermath
Though the losses were great in taking and
holding the coastline on June 6th, the Allied
armies were able to secure a beachhead and
proceed inland. By June 11th, or D5, the
Allied military strength in Normandy had reached
326,000 troops. From here the Allied forces
would move through Europe in a trail of
liberation.