The Invasion• D-day was the major allied offensive, it was

the response to the threat of Hitler taking over Europe. D-day was the invasion of Normandy. D-day commenced on the 6th of June 1944. It consisted of 2 phases, phase one was the landing of 24,000 American, Canadian, and British paratroopers behind the beachhead. Their objective was to capture specific objectives like artillery pieces, various towns and anti-aircraft guns, all of which aided the amphibious landing at the beaches much easier. Phase 2 was the initiation of the amphibious landing; this consisted of various countries landing at Juno, Sword, Omaha, Gold and Utah beaches along the coast of Normandy. The invasion was the largest the world had ever seen. 160,000 soldiers and sailors were employed in the landings combined with over 50, 000 landing crafts and ships were also used.

Leaders• Various countries were involved in the

invasion (and defence) of Normandy. Canadian, American and British forces made up the largest amount of troops. With German forces and a small amount of Italian soldiers were the only countries involved in the defence.

• Hitler and his underlings were the commanders in charge on the axis side of the invasion. While the Allied side of the Invasion was headed by Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Timeline• May 8  Only a few days in the coming months meet all the requirements of tide, dawn, moon

and so forth.  5-6-7 June is one such group.  D-Day is fixed as June 5.  Advance units of the assault force begin movement to the marshalling areas almost immediately.  Once there, they are 'sealed' in the camps for security reasons. June 3    Embarkation of all troops is complete.  Over 100,000 troops are locked in their ships in ports throughout southern England.June 4  Advance seaborn units begin to deploy to their assembly stations for the trip across to Normandy. The weather continues to deteriorate with heavy winds and a five-foot swell at sea. Due to deteriorating weather the ships are recalled. Waiting clearer weather.0330  There is a clear 'window' approaching from the west according to Ike's forecasters. The cross-channel weather will be rough, but minimally acceptable.  Eisenhower says, "OK, let's go."   H-Hour at Omaha is fixed at 0630, June 6th.  The invasion armada begins to deploy.  It's the greatest fleet ever assembled -- 2,727 ships and 2,606 other, smaller craft, 5,333 in all.

• 2100  Paratroops units from the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne and the British 6th begin to take off from fields all over southern England. 

• 2330 Allied planes pass over the channel full American and British ships.June 6, 0100 The invasion begins. Glider and paratroops units begin landing behind the German beach defences. Because of the darkness and the German AA fire, many units are dropped far off the intended drop zones. Eventually they find and inevitably secure their objectives.

Timeline Continues.• 0330 The assault waves begin loading in the landing craft. The seas are rough and the climb

down the nets in the predawn darkness is a hazardous journey. The troops are in for a rough ride to the beach.  Survivors would reach land seasick and wobbling.

• 0400  Various Axis preparations are made in order to meet the Allied offensive.• 0558  Allied battleships and other warships begin to pound the German shore positions.  

"They came, rank after relentless rank, ten lanes wide, twenty miles across, five thousand ships of every description," wrote one reporter that morning: "Coast Guard cutters, buoy-layers and motor launches," and "a formidable array of 702 warships." 

• 0630  The assault waves begin to touch down.  The troops could hear the steady beat of enemy fire on the ramp as they approached the beach.  Most landing craft grounded on a sand bar 50 to 100 yards out and the men waded in.  The water was whipped by automatic weapons fire as the men struggled through the neck deep water.  Some dove under water or went over the sides to escape the fire of the machine guns.  When they finally did reach shore they faced another 200 yards or more of open sand to cross before reaching cover at the sea wall

• 0638 Casualties continue to pile up with many dead from machine gun fire and drowning in the deep water..

• 0700  As the second wave of infantry began to land, the situation worsened, mortars and artillery shells rained down on the invading forces. Heavy casualties ensured.

• 0730 - 1200  Inch by inch the troops on Omaha (and other beaches) moved forward, up through the bluffs and onto the flatland above.  In the absence of much room to manoeuvre, their attack had been unoriginal, a straightforward frontal attack.  

Timeline Continued… Again.• .   • 1335  The German 352d Division inaccurately advised Army HQ that the Allied assault had

been hurled back into the sea. This false information contributed to German reinforces not responding quickly enough to the threat posed by the Aliies.

• 1430  Waves continue to arrive, forcing their way inland and assisting forces already dug in. Many enemy snipers re-appear in already taken strongpoint's, firing down on the advancing Allies. Allied demolition units continue clearing the beach of obstacles.

• 1930  As evening finally approached, the beach was a shambles of burning and disabled vehicles, but the German positions along the beach were in Allied hands.  By nightfall, Allied power had prevailed all across the Normandy beachhead.

• June 7   Units were reorganized and revised objectives laid out overnight. Only part of the D-Day objectives had been reached. More encouraging were the indications of badly disorganized enemy resistance. Not only had the Germans failed to develop any unified  counterattack, but they had shown little coordination in opposing an advance made on a broad front by widely separated battalions. 

Australian Participation• During the invasion of Normandy the

Australian army were fighting in Asia, and Africa. Pre-occupied defending positions in Singapore, New Guinea, Thailand and Burma while also assisting Allied efforts in Africa. Due to this hey did not play a major part in the D-day offensive, although interestingly their was 8 Australian officers observing the Gold Beach landing.

Results of D-day• D-day was basically the beginning of the end for German occupation in Europe, it set

off a domino effect. Once the Allies had established the beachhead at Normandy, they were able to resupply their own soldiers and continue the push inland, taking various strategic locations, assisting Russian efforts and destroying supply lines reinforcing Axis positions. Inevitably the taking of the beaches at Normandy was what won the war.

• Eventually the forces that landed at Normandy made their way to the Ardennes and helped win the Battle of the Bulge and continue the push through to Germany. The result of all this was the allies winning the war, hundreds of thousands of Germans surrendering and Hitler killing himself.

• Not to mention that many countries were freed from German occupation during the course of the campaign. There are still many solemn reminders of the invasion in Normandy, old Bunkers, rusting boats and shelled building stand as a reminder of the ravages of war.

Australian Views.• The Invasion of Normandy was the largest

and most effective invasion the world has ever seen, thousands upon thousands of lives were lost on the beaches of Sword, Juno, Omaha, Gold and Utah. Many families were left without fathers or sons. The conflict impacted on not only Australia but on the whole world, it showed the lengths in which the human race is willing to push suffering and death, it showed that a county can be successfully invaded, but not without thousands of people losing their lives. These sort of conflict have helped serve as a war preventative, no one wants to have to witness what happened at Normandy, or anywhere during World War 2, ever again.

The English Channel

Normandy Beaches

This map was located on Wikipedia and is a first hand account.

Bibliographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings

The above information is secondary, but taken from reliable sources, the author is a reliable and uses various information from various different perspectives (first, second and third quality information).

That is all the information I needed, it was collated from various different places and is informative. The pictures I secured using Google Images. They are from various different sites on the internet.

By David Wilson