Location: Normandy (N. France)

Plans

• Invade northern France, begin push toward Berlin

• “Operation Overlord” planned by Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower

• Soldiers trained in England

• Plans involved soldiers from the US, Great Britain, France, & Canada

Getting the troops “ready to go.” Ike talking to members of the 101st Airborne

Trivia• What does the

“D” in D-Day stand for?

• Day (D+1, D+2, D+3, etc)

• What does the “H” in H-Hour stand for?

• Hour (H+:30, H+:60, H+2:00, etc)

F.U.S.A.G.– Operation Quicksilver

• First United States Army Group

• Run by Gen. George Patton (US)

• Fake army inflatable tanks, fake buildings, false communications

• This was done to distract & confuse Nazi intelligence

The Atlantic Wall

• Rommel built the Atlantic Wall to stop any invasion

• Mines

• Forts

• Machine gun nests, etc.

June 6, 1944

• 1:30 am– 13,000 paratroopers land, some by glider (heavy casualties)

• 3:00 am– Germans pick up Allied ships on radar (2,727 ships; 6,939 men)

• 5:00 am– German batteries (big guns) open fire

Canadian troops landing on D-Day

June 6, 1944• 5:36 am– Allied naval bombardment

begins • Atlantic Wall defenses had been bombed

that night by air unsuccessful• 6:30 am– US soldiers land on the beaches• 7:30 am– British soldiers arrive

End of the Day

• 156,000 troops landed

• 73,000 US; 83,000 British

• 2,000 US casualties at Omaha beach alone

Battle of the Bulge

• Germany’s last attempt to stop advance of Allies

• US forces surrounded • Extreme cold, lack of

food, ammunition, and medical supplies made conditions very difficult

• Eventually weather improved so supplies could be airlifted in

• Patton’s tank units eventually broke through