Britain to fend for itself. That would enable Nazi Germany to muster all its strength against the Soviet Union. By the time American forces returned to Europe-if indeed, they ever returned-Germany might be master of the entire continent, and possibly the Eastern Hemisphere.

American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named supreme commander for the allies in Europe. British General, Sir Frederick Morgan, established a combined American-British headquarters known as COSSAC, for Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander. COSSAC developed a number of plans for the Allies most notable was that of

Operation Overlord, a full scale invasion of France across the English Channel. Eisenhower felt that COSSAC's plan was a sound operation. After reviewing the disastrous hit-and-run raid in 1942 in Dieppe, planners decided that the strength of German defenses required not a number of separate assaults by relativel

Patrick, Stephen A. The Normandy Campaign. New York: Gallery Books, 1986.

After nearly a year of preparation, the invasion force was gathered and ready. 1.5 million men, almost six thousand ships, and twelve thousand planes were ready to attack at a moment's notice. Allied air, and sea superiority was a deciding factor of the invasion. There was not a single Axis plane or warship to be seen on the morning of the attack. At 0200 hrs, June 6, 1944, after two days of weather delay, the largest gathering of ships the world has ever seen weighed anchor from the five major bases around the southern English coast. Twenty thousand paratroopers and glider troops would be dropped behind German lines before the infantry hit the beaches. Their job was to seize bridges, roads, and other major transportation routes, to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the beaches. The French Resistance was also notified of the impending invasion, and set about wreaking havoc with Nazi communication lines. As a result of their work, German High Command was unawar!

Although fewer Allied ground troops went ashore on D-Day than on the first day of the earlier invasion of Sicily, the invasion of Normandy was in total history's greatest amphibious operation, involving on the first day 5,000 ships, the largest armada ever assembled; 11,000 aircraft (following months of preliminary bombardment); and approximately 154,000 British, Canadian and American soldiers, including 23,000 arriving by parachute and glider. The invasion also involved a long-range deception plan on a scale the world had never before seen and the clandestine operations of tens of thousands of Allied resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied countries of Western Europe.

contributed to the deception. Although the Allied commanders could not know it until their troops were ashore, their deception had been remarkably successful. As time for the invasion neared, the German's focus of the deception had shifted from the regions of the Balkans and Norway to the Pas de Calais. The concentration of Allied troops was so great, that an invasion of France seemed inevitable. Bombing attacks, sabotage by the French Resistance and false messages from compromised German agents all focused on the Pas de Calais with only minimal attention to Normandy. Also, German intelligence thought that the Allies had 90 divisions ready for the invasion (really only 39), so that even after the invasion of Normandy, the belief could still exist that Normandy was just a preliminary measure and the main invasion of the Pas de Calais was still to come.

It was predicted in the planning stages that Omaha would be the hardest beach to take. The beach was narrow, and there were high vertical cliffs behind it. In addition, there also were twice the expected numbers of Germans defending it. The assault was plagued with bad luck from the beginning. Ten infantry barges, carrying more than three hundred men sank with no survivors, twenty-seven amphibious tanks capsized, and almost all of the landing craft carrying the 105mm howitzers succumbed to the rough seas. Being caught in a sinking landing craft meant almost certain death by drowning. The average infantryman carried 70lbs of equipment, plus his weapon (Patrick, 75). "In the first few minutes, nearly one third of the men were hit before reaching the beach. Entire companies were killed in a matter of moments" (Vail 93). The morale of the troops was shattered. Many of them were already seasick, and the shock dealt to them from the death all around them made them panic. !

"50th Anniversery of D-Day". Patch American High School. Online. 3 March, 1999. www.nando.net/sproject/dday

The invasion from the sea, while not as mixed up as the airborne landings, had it's own problems. The landing craft, overloaded with men, jeeps, tanks, trucks, and artillery, were subjected to rough seas, machinegun fire, and artillery shelling for a good portion of thei

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