1. D-Day June 6, 1944 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrJAwCBbnuc Song
Shows invasion

3. What was the purpose? To take the French coast line To liberate France
Stalin was demanding an all-out effort to liberate France from German occupation. An invasion force greater than any in the history of the world was slowly amassing in southern Britain toward that end.

4. Who was involved in D-Day?
United States
VS.
Also free french forces
Britain
Germany
Canada

5. Before the Invasion By 42’ Allied thought about an invasion
By 43’ Germans amped up defenses
Erwin Rommel
Google
Preparing for D-Day
After World War II began, Germany invaded and occupied northwestern France beginning in May The Americans entered the war in December 1941, and by 1942 they and the British (who had been evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 after being cut off by the Germans in the Battle of France) were considering the possibility of a major Allied invasion across the English Channel. The following year, Allied plans for a cross-Channel invasion began to ramp up. In November 1943, Adolf Hitler ( ), who was aware of the threat of an invasion along France’s northern coast, put Erwin Rommel ( ) in charge of spearheading defense operations in the region, even though the Germans did not know exactly where the Allies would strike. Hitler charged Rommel with finishing the Atlantic Wall, a 2,400-mile fortification of bunkers, landmines and beach and water obstacles.
In his Führer Directive No. 51, issued on 3 November 1943, Hitler warned of ‘consequences of staggering proportions’ if the western Allies should gain a foothold. His ambition was simple. He would reinforce the western defences, launch a furious counterattack and ‘throw the Allies back into the sea’.

6. Operation Overlord 1944 Eisenhower put in charge
Used trickery to mislead Germans
June 5th was chosen
Waited 24 more hours bc of bad weather
In January 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower ( ) was appointed commander of Operation Overlord. In the months and weeks before D-Day, the Allies carried out a massive deception operation intended to make the Germans think the main invasion target was Pas-de-Calais (the narrowest point between Britain and France) rather than Normandy. In addition, they led the Germans to believe that Norway and other locations were also potential invasion targets. Many tactics was used to carry out the deception, including fake equipment; a phantom army commanded by George Patton and supposedly based in England, across from Pas-de-Calais; double agents; and fraudulent radio transmissions.
Eisenhower selected June 5, 1944, as the date for the invasion; however, bad weather on the days leading up to the operation caused it to be delayed for 24 hours. On the morning of June 5, after his meteorologist predicted improved conditions for the following day, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord. He told the troops: “You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.”
Later that day, more than 5,000 ships and landing craft carrying troops and supplies left England for the trip across the Channel to France, while more than 11,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.
Only 10 days each month were suitable for launching the operation: a day near the full Moon was needed both for illumination during the hours of darkness and for the spring tide, the former to illuminate navigational landmarks for the crews of aircraft, gliders and landing craft, and the latter to provide the deepest possible water to help safe navigation over defensive obstacles placed by the German forces in the surf on the seaward approaches to the beaches. A full moon occurred on 6 June. Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had tentatively selected 5 June as the date for the assault. The weather was fine during most of May, but deteriorated in early June.
The Germans meanwhile took comfort from the existing poor conditions, which were worse over Northern France than over the English Channel itself, and believed no invasion would be possible for several days. Some troops stood down, many senior officers were away for the weekend. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took a few days' leave to celebrate his wife's birthday,[13] while dozens of division, regimental and battalion commanders were away from their posts conducting war games just prior to the invasion.[

7. Pictures of Allied bombing damage at
Before the Invasion
In the days leading up to the main invasion, Allied planes bombed the Atlantic Wall defenses all along the coast of France
Pictures of Allied bombing damage at
Pointe du Hoc, France

8. Before the Invasion
The night before the invasion, Allied troops parachuted behind enemy lines in France
They tried to destroy railroad lines and disrupt communication
General Eisenhower speaking to airborne troops on the evening before the invasion

9. US troops in a Higgins landing craft approaching the coast of Normandy
What Happened?
On June 6, 1944 more than 150,000 Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel
They attacked the German military along a 60 mile stretch of the coast in Normandy, France.
US troops in a Higgins landing craft approaching the coast of Normandy
Germany’s air force and navy could do little to resist invasion. The Luftwaffe had withdrawn nearly all its fighters to counter American daylight bombing operations over Germany. The Navy’s warships had been hounded to destruction or were bottled up in ports. Its U-boats would have an almost impossible job penetrating the belt of Allied naval and air defence
In the event, German reaction to the landings on 6 June was slow and confused. The spell of bad weather which had made the decision to go so fraught for Eisenhower also meant the Germans were caught off guard. Rommel was visiting his wife in Germany and many senior commanders were not at their posts. In addition, the Allied deception plan, Operation ‘Fortitude’, convinced OKW – and Hitler - that Normandy was a feint and the main Allied landings would come later in the Pas de Calais region. Fifteenth Army was held there. Such was the success of ‘Fortitude’ that many units were kept away from the Normandy battlefield until July.

12. What Happened?
Soldiers faced intense opposition from the Germans when they landed
Omaha beach

13. What Happened?
Many men were killed or injured before they even reached the beaches Over 156,000 landed 4,000 Allied died D Day
3 million men stormed the shores
By dawn on June 6, thousands of paratroopers and glider troops were already on the ground behind enemy lines, securing bridges and exit roads. The amphibious invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and Canadians overcame light opposition to capture beaches codenamed Gold, Juno and Sword, as did the Americans at Utah Beach. U.S. forces faced heavy resistance at Omaha Beach, where there were over 2,000 American casualties. However, by day’s end, approximately 156,000 Allied troops had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches.According to some estimates, more than 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives in the D-Day invasion, with thousands more wounded or missing.
US troops take shelter behind German “hedgehogs.” The obstacles were designed to prevent Allied landing craft from getting too close to the shores of France.

14. Pointe du Hoc 135 killed

15. The men kept coming!
By June 30th, over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the Normandy shores By July 4th, 1 million men landed!

16. How Did It Affect The War?
D-Day was the beginning of the end of the war in Europe The Allies were able to move closer to Germany & liberate France from German control

17. Why was it called “d day”??