D-Day is one of the most important battles in WW2 history. It is considered as the turning point of the war by many people, including myself. It helped the allied forces (exception USSR) get back into European mainland. Otherwise, they were either operating from the Britsih mainland and the USSR territory.

During WW2, Nazi Germany had occupied France. If was one of their more strategic moves. Adolf Hitler also used his now infamous tactic known as Blitzkrieg. He also used France to play psychological warfare against the Allies (who at that time were just the UK). It was critical for the Allies to recapture France for them to gain an upper hand.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower (he later becomes the president of the United States) was appointed as the head of Operation Overlord, which later came to be known as D-Day.

Setting up the attack

The allies knew that Nazi Germany had heavily fortified the northern beaches of France. They needed to attack when the Germans were least expecting it. They created a plan to make it look like they were going to attack Pas-de-Calais (which happens to be the shortest distance between the UK mainland and French mainland). The plan worked.

The Germans expected an attack coming their and sent many troops to intercept the allied forces even before they came.

Many other deception tactics were used for catching the Germans off guard.

Before the attack started, there were several paratroopers and soldiers, who helped in securing bridges and outposts for the allies.

The attack was meant to happen on June 5, 1944, but got delayed due to unfavorable climate. This delayed the invasion by 24 hours.

The attack

The attack started on 6 June 1944. The combined British and Canadian forces attacked the beaches codenamed Gold, Juno, and Sword. The American forces alone attacked the beaches codenamed Utah and Omaha.

The troops landed in huge landing crafts. They picked their weapons and moved towards the German outposts on the beach. Many soldiers from the first few landing craft didn’t even make it outside the craft before they were shot down by artillery.

The German watchtowers with their machine guns were able to gun down many troops before they could reach the towers, but they were eventually overrun. The soldiers charged ahead, without any fear.

There were countless casualties, but it was not in vain. The soldiers were able to overrun the beaches and helped the Allies set up a base in the European mainland.

Aftermath

This helped them maintain a strategic position for the duration of the war and helped them coordinate attacks and invasions which helped the Allies take over Germany.

If this invasion were to have gone wrong, the Allied would have lost many soldiers and would have gained nothing. Without France, the Allied forces would not have been able to get heavy equipment to Europe, without which it would have been near impossible to win the war.