d-day
D-Day The Invasion of Normandy When on D-Day-June 6, 1944-Allied armies landed in Normandy on the northwestern coast of France, possibly the one most critical event of World War II unfolded; for upon the outcome of the invasion hung the fate of Europe. If the invasion failed, the United States might turn its full attention to the enemy in the Pacific-Japan-leaving Britain alone, with most of its resources spent in mounting the invasion. That would enable Nazi Germany to muster all its strength against the Soviet Union. By the time American forces returned to Europe-if indeed, they ever returned-Germany might be master of the entire continent. Although fewer Allied ground troops went ashore on D-Day than on the first day of the earlier invasion of Sicily, the invasion of Normandy was in total history's greatest amphibious operation, involving on the first day 5,000 ships, the largest armada ever assembled; 11,000 aircraft (following months of preliminary bombardment); and approximately 154,000 British, Canadian and American soldiers, including 23,000 arriving by parachute and glider. The invasion also involved a long-range deception plan on a scale the world had never before seen and the clandestine operations of tens of thousands
Allied deception had been remarkably effective and because Hitler had been sleeping and was then slow to carry out any action, German power which could have spelled defeat for the invasion had been withheld. Eisenhower felt that COSSAC's plan was a sound operation. British General, Sir Frederick Morgan, established a combined American-British headquarters known as COSSAC, for Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander. The main invasion, Brutus reported, was still to come in the Pas de Calais. Also, German intelligence thought that the Allies had 90 divisions ready for the invasion (really only 39), so that even after the invasion of Normandy, the belief could still exist that Normandy was just a preliminary measure and the main invasion of the Pas de Calais was still to come. After reviewing the disastrous hit-and-run raid in 1942 in Dieppe, planners decided that the strength of German defenses required not a number of separate assaults by relatively small units but an immense concentration of power in a single main landing. COSSAC developed a number of plans for the Allies, most notable was that of Operation Overlord, a full scale invasion of France across the English Channel. The Fu hrer himself, Adolf Hitler, had an intuition that the invasion would come to Normandy but was unable to incite his commanders to make more than minimal reinforcement there. The next day, after word reached Hitler that German troops had found copies of U. Eisenhower was named supreme commander for the allies in Europe. Bombing attacks, sabotage by the French Resistance and false messages from compromised German agents all focused on the Pas de Calais with only minimal attention to Normandy. In my opinion, the primary reason that the invasion worked was deception. An important point to the deception was Ultra, code name for intelligence obtained from intercepts of German radio traffic. Possible sites included among others, the Pas de Calais across the Strait of Dover, and the beaches of Cotentin.
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