D-Day: Who and what was involved

The D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th 1944 eventually won back control of France from the German forces and…

The D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th 1944 eventually won back control of France from the German forces and was a decisive stage in the liberation of Europe in the second World War.

  • Ahead of D-Day, the Allies staged Operation Fortitude, which persuaded the Germans that the landings were to take place not in Normandy but at Pas-de-Calais, to the east. Dummy tanks, landing craft and planes were set up in eastern England.
  • D-Day began in full on June 6th 1944 and was the assault phase of the Allied invasion of mainland Europe, or Operation Overlord. The Allied Supreme Commander was General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  • 23,400 British and American paratroopers were dropped inland. More than 132,000 troops were then landed on five Normandy beaches codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
  • Soldiers participating in the Normandy landings came from the United States, Britain, Canada, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Luxembourg, Greece, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand and Australia. Some 177 French commandos also took part.
  • The landings, and associated operations, were codenamed Neptune and aimed to establish beach-heads in north-west France.
  • Nearly 7,000 ships and landing craft deployed in Neptune - of which 1,213 were naval warships - attacked German land and naval positions, landing troops and creating two huge artificial harbours, which were towed across the channel.
  • Neptune officially ceased on June 30th 1944, by which time 850,279 men, 148,803 vehicles and 570,505 tons of supplies had been landed.