Download The Allied Invasion of France

D-Day: The Allied Invasion of France
Leading Up To the Attack:
Just before dawn on June 6, 1944,
hundreds of Allied battleships, cruisers, and
destroyers opened fire on France’s Normandy
coast. Waiting in thousands of transport ships
were 150,000 soldiers from the U.S., Britain,
Canada, and France. The troops watched with
awe as the beaches that they would soon run
across were pounded with explosives. This was
the deciding moment of World War II, and they had spent months training for it. This
was D-Day, the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
Europe had been at war since 1939, and by 1940, only Great Britain remained to stand
before the German empire. In 1941, Germany attacked Russia and Japan attacked the
United States. This would cement a two-front war for Germany. With the Soviet Union
on one side and Britain and America on the other, Germany was dangerously
surrounded.
In 1943, the Allies (Britain, America, and
Russia) agreed to invade Nazi-occupied France
from across the English Channel. At this time,
Germany was battling Russia on the eastern
front. Joseph Stalin pressed Prime Minister
Winston Churchill and
President Franklin Roosevelt
to open a second front.
Churchill and Roosevelt
agreed, but they said they would not be ready until 1944. While
Russian forces battled Germany on the ground, British and
American airmen battled the German Luftwaffe (German Air
Force) over Western Europe. Also during this time, British and
American land forces were training and preparing for what they
all knew was coming: the liberation of Europe from German
control.
Preparation:
U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was placed in
charge of planning the invasion itself (code name
Operation Overlord). Three things were done to
guarantee success: 1) servicemen were trained
under the same conditions they would face on DDay 2) huge amounts of men and supplies were gathered to overwhelm
the Germans
in France 3)
false messages
were allowed
to be captured
by German
intelligence to
hide the real
location of the
attack. The
plan of attack
had two major parts to it. First
British and American airborne
troops used parachutes and gliders to drop behind enemy lines. Despite tragic
mistakes and confusion, the airborne troops took control of vital towns, bridges, and
waterways. Second was the landing of troops on the beaches in France. The landings
would take place in a region called Normandy. The main landing was divided into
five beaches. The U.S. was to attack Utah and Omaha beaches while British and
Canadian forces were to attack Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches. The airborne
troops were to guard the flanks.
D-Day: the Date of Attack:
On the morning of June 6, 1944 at 6:30 am, Allied landing
forces approached the beaches. The small transport boats
the men made the final part of the journey in had a gate
at the front that could be lowered. This made it much
easier for the soldiers to exit the boat quickly. The
Germans had covered the
beaches with metal obstacles called hedgehogs that
forced many boats to stop while still in deep water.
Many Allied troops drowned in deep water because
their heavy gear weighed
them down.
The attack was confusing and frightening for those
that made it ashore; men faced deadly fire as soon as
the gates dropped down. Many never made it out of
the landing boats. While airborne troops who had
landed the night before worked their way back to the
beaches to link up with the landing force, soldiers
charged up the beaches to force their way onto the
mainland. The Germans had spent over three years
building up defenses fully expecting this invasion to
happen. While Allied troops were out in the open during the attack, many German
defenders fired while safely inside cement bunkers.
At the beginning of the attack, German officers argued whether or not this was the
real landing or just a cover-up for another, much larger invasion. They had heard
Allied messages saying the real attack was to take place somewhere else, not
knowing the Allies wanted them to hear those messages. By the time they realized
this was the main attack, they were in desperate need of
reinforcements. Those reinforcements could only be called
up by Adolf Hitler, and he was asleep at the time of the
invasion. His generals were under orders not to wake him
and were afraid to disobey those orders. Germany had lost
valuable time.
As the German defenders blazed away with deadly machine
gun fire, Allied troops pushed their way up to the seawall.
This was not a quick moving attack. Some men moved
barely a hundred yards in two hours. Soldiers were shot at
from every angle. Many found cover in holes in the sand created by German mortar
fire. Eventually Allied explosives were used to blow holes through the German line
of defense, and soldiers rushed through the openings.
By the End of the Day and Beyond:
Eventually, Allied forces were able to establish a
foothold on their respective beaches. The
German defenders were unable to keep the
Allies out of France. At the end of the day, DDay was a success. The Allies had landed a
military force in Western Europe that was there
to stay. They would now have to slowly grind
their way through France, moving from town to town, pushing the Germans back to
their own country. The months ahead would be difficult and costly.
On June 6, 1944, over 150,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy in Northern
France. By the end of the war, over three
million would take the same path in France.
Over 2,500 men were lost and another 7,500
were wounded. More than 1,000 of the men
lost were at Omaha Beach (shown in the
movie Saving Private Ryan). The invasion of
Nazi-occupied France, famously known as
D-Day, is considered the beginning of the
end for Adolf Hitler and his war machine.
D-Day: The Allied Invasion of France
Take some time to think about your responses. The answers to these questions are
not directly found in this reading, but use the reading to support your answer. Use
the space that is provided.
1. How do you think the men FELT as they were training and preparing for the
invasion of Nazi-occupied France?
2. What do you think the men in the boats were THINKING as the gates were
beginning to lower on their landing crafts?
3. What do you think the men were THINKING as they ran up the beaches
towards the German defenders?
4. How would you FEEL if you were charging up the beaches during D-Day?
5. What would you be THINKING while you were charging up the beaches
during D-Day?