What was the code name for D-Day? Here's what to know about invasion

The anniversary of World War II's D-Day is June 6, commemorating the largest invasion by air, land and sea in history.

More than 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes and 150,000 soldiers from the United States, Britain and Canada stormed the Nazi-occupied French beaches of Normandy in a surprise attack.

Even though everything didn't go according to plan, more than 150,000 infantry troops were transported across the English Channel into German-occupied France.

The offensive, which strained an already weakened Germany, helped bring about the end of World War II less than a year later.

Here are five things you should know about D-Day:

Fact about D-Day

D-Day was the largest amphibious (land and water) invasion in history. More than 13,000 aircraft and 5,000 ships supported the operation.

What was the code name for the D-Day invasion?

The code name for the invasion was Operation Overlord.

More: An El Paso World War II veteran who took part in D-Day, will be honored with a monument

General Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded the operation

Plans were made to land in Normandy June 5, 1944, but bad weather delayed the launch date of the invasion to June 6.

The "D" stands for Day, btw

D-Day is code for the day the attack was to begin. One reason was to keep the actual date out of the hands of the enemy; another was to serve as a placeholder until a date was chosen. They also used H-Hour for the time of the invasion.

Codename for D-Day

Code names for the five beaches where the Allies landed: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.

Trish Long may be reached at 915-546-6179 or tlong@elpasotimes.com.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: D-Day 2023 anniversary: Facts about the World War II invasion