What and when was the d day invasion

Total German losses on D-Day not just deaths, but also wounded and prisoners of war are estimated as being between 4, and 9, Over , Allied and German troops were killed during the whole of the Battle of Normandy, as well as around 20, French civilians, many as a result of Allied bombing.

Default contrast. High Contrast. Low Contrast. Font size. Small font size. Default font size. Record a memory or upload a photo to help preserve their legacy. FamilySearch Blog. About FamilySearch. For Latter-day Saints. For the Whole Family. Genealogy Research. D-Day: The largest sea invasion by the numbers Planning for D-Day began more than a year in advance, and the Allies carried out substantial military deception -- codenamed Operation Bodyguard -- to confuse the Germans as to when and where the invasion would take place.

The operation was originally scheduled to begin on June 5, when a full moon and low tides were expected to coincide with good weather, but storms forced a hour delay. What happened on D-Day? Read More. The amphibious landings -- codenamed Operation Overlord -- were preceded by an extensive bombing campaign to damage German defenses.

Deception tactics employed in the months leading up to the attack led the Germans to believe that the initial attacks were merely a diversion and that the true invasion would take place further along the coast. Allied divisions began landing on the five beaches at a. June 6. D-Day invasion rare photos reveal the chronology of events. The US troops were assigned to Utah beach at the base of the Cotentin Peninsular and Omaha beach at the northern end of the Normandy coast.

The British subsequently landed on Gold Beach, followed by the Canadians at Juno, and finally the British at Sword, the easternmost point of the invasion. By midnight June 6, the troops had secured their beachheads and moved further inland from Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword. However, not all the landings were successful; US forces suffered substantial losses at Omaha beach, where strong currents forced many landing craft away from their intended positions, delaying and hampering the invasion strategy.

After much deliberation, it was decided that the landings would take place on the long, sloping beaches of Normandy. There, the Allies would have the element of surprise. The German high command expected the attack to come in the Pas de Calais region, north of the river Seine where the English Channel is narrowest. It was here that Adolf Hitler had put the bulk of his panzer divisions after being tipped off by Allied undercover agents posing as German sympathizers that the invasion would take place in the Pas de Calais.

Surprise was an essential element of the Allied invasion plan. If the Germans had known where and when the Allies were coming they would have hurled them back into the sea with the 55 divisions they had in France. The invaders would have been on the offensive with a to-1 manpower ratio against them.

The challenges of mounting a successful landing were daunting. The English Channel was notorious for its rough seas and unpredictable weather, and the enemy had spent months constructing the Atlantic Wall, a 2,mile line of obstacles. This defensive wall comprised 6. And the German army would be dug in on the cliffs overlooking the American landing beaches. Image: Eisenhower Presidential Library.