Today is: D-Day
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Beginning in the spring of 1940, in the midst of World War II, Nazi Germany started occupying the northern part of France. They gained complete control of the area in May. In 1942, the United States and Britain began thinking about an invasion across the English Channel. Hitler put Erwin Rommel in charge of defense of a large swath of coastal areas, which consisted of fortifications of bunkers, landmines and other beach and water obstacles.
The Allies planned their amphibious invasion of Normandy and placed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in charge in 1944. The invasion became known as D-Day, and its implementation would prove to be the start of the end of the war. Five thousand ships, 13,000 aircraft, and more than 160,000 American, British and Canadian troops readied for invasion. Although the Allies achieved their objective of gaining a foothold on the continent, it was not without heavy losses. By some estimates, more than 4,000 Allied troops were killed, and another 5,000 or so troops were wounded.
Source: Checkiday.com
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Today is: D-Day
