"Normandy landing" is the largest landing in military history The allies launched on June 6, 1944 -from Britain - on the coast of the Normandy region northwest of France , to open a new front against Germany during World War II . And participated in more than two million soldiers and 300 thousand military vehicles"

The Normandy landing enabled the construction of a bridgehead in the French West, paving the way for the liberation of France , Belgium , and the Netherlands , then continuing to crawl into Berlin.

Context

In the last half of 1943, the balance of military power began to tilt in favor of the Allied Forces (mainly America, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the French resistance led by Charles de Gaulle ) at the expense of the Axis powers (mainly Germany and Italy ), especially after the Stalingrad and Al-Alamein battles in Egypt.

After the Battle of Stalingrad and progressed in Ukraine and Poland , the Allied forces managed to take control of Sicily and opened a front in southern Italy. As for the east, the Soviet Red Army made steady gains , encouraging local resistance movements in Poland , Hungary , and Greece to become more actively involved in the battle against Germany and its allies.

At that point, the political leaderships of the Allied countries began to feel the long war and the acceleration of this military necessity, in order to avoid an increase in the state of restlessness in public opinion in Europe and the United States, which began to express its resentment about the bloody war and its enormous human cost.

On November 28, 1943, leaders of the major Allied powers (the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union) met at a trilateral summit in the Iranian capital, Tehran , during which they discussed the future of the strategy of military confrontation with the Axis powers.

The meeting decided to open a new front in western Europe for two purposes: absorbing the popular frustration over the long war, and dispersing Germany's efforts to relieve pressure on the eastern front, on which the Soviet army faces almost alone the German army.

Preparation

The operation was commanded by US General Dwight Eisenhower (later President of America) and an aide was appointed by him, British General Bernard Montgomery (Champion of the Battle of North Africa and Victory of El Alamein), and he began bringing in military forces from the United States , Canada, Australia, Asia, and French colonies in Africa, mobilizing allies - in six months Two million soldiers and 300,000 tanks and military vehicles.

This massive crowd placed a heavy burden on Britain, already exhausted by three years of German missile and air strikes. The British authorities were forced to evacuate entire towns of their residents to house the incoming forces.

The recruits were subjected to intensive and varied training courses, and the attack plan was subject to severe secrecy and its initial details remained confined to a specific number of officers who were subjected to house arrest in military bases, and their movements were monitored as well as their personal mail, for fear of details leaking to German intelligence.

The operation's leader also intent on developing a diversionary plan and leaking its details to the German intelligence, according to which the attack will take place in the "Cali" region in the far northwest of France, which is logical, given that it is the closest point from the European mainland to Britain. Therefore, Germany reinforced its defenses around the "Kali" and neglected the areas south of it relatively.

The landing plan included the transfer of massive forces across the sea (287 thousand military personnel), and that before arriving the beach, 156,000 paratroopers would be thrown to secure the six identified landing beaches that were deserted. 9,500 military aircraft secured the huge naval convoy from submarine and German aircraft attacks.

The attack

The attack - which was called the "Operation Supreme Commander" (Overlord) - began at zero at night, 6 June 1944, a day earlier than usual due to bad weather. 156 thousand paratroopers were thrown onto the six landing beaches as part of the first stage of the attack, which was called "Neptune".

Paratroopers engaged in direct clashes with the German forces that were surprised by the location of the attack, as the German leadership estimated that it would fall north in the "Cali" region, yet violent confrontations took place. It is estimated that on that night alone 10,000 of the Allied forces were killed, wounded, captured, and disappeared, and 10,500 German forces.

At four o'clock in the morning of June 6, the first forces transported by sea arrived, and the maritime landing began amid bloody clashes, the most famous of which was on Omaha Beach. More than 2,500 American soldiers were killed during the first hours, knowing that the Americans lost 6000 soldiers on the first day. , And it is the deadliest human loss to the Allies.

The first day of the Normandy operation ended with the allied landing of more than 150,000 soldiers on French beaches , which was considered a brilliant military success of the operation.

In the following days, the pace of the arrival of the forces from Britain accelerated, and the target was to land two million soldiers and 350,000 tons of equipment, weapons, ammunition and supplies, which required the establishment of a factory port called "Winston" after British Prime Minister Winston Churchill .

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