D-Day

On June 6, 1944, an armada of 6,000 ships appeared off the Normandy coast of France to begin Operation Overlord, the Allied effort to liberate occupied Europe from Nazi rule. In the earliest hours of the invasion, 23,000 American and British paratroopers were dropped behind German lines to secure key bridges and crossroads and hold the area until the landings could gain a foothold beyond the beaches. American forces stormed Omaha and Utah, the British attacked Gold and Sword, and the Canadians assaulted Juno. Although months of Allied bombing had done little to weaken Germany's coastal fortifications, the Allies had mounted an extensive deception effort, including General George Patton's so-called Ghost Army and some 600 inflatable rubber tanks and other vehicles built mostly by the Alice Mill in Woonsocket, to mislead German intelligence about the intended landing site. Normandy's defenses were formidable, German resistance was fierce, weather in the English Channel hindered the landing craft, and tanks meant to support the infantry were swamped by rough seas. Casualties were high among the 150,000 Allied troops coming ashore, and only grit, determination, and resourcefulness across all five beaches allowed the attackers to breach, destroy, or bypass the defenses. A major German failure was Adolf Hitler's refusal to release armored reserves, which might have helped throw the invaders back into the sea. American losses in Overlord were about 4,500 killed, mostly at Omaha Beach and among the airborne troops, while German losses reached as many as 9,000 killed and 200,000 captured. The Normandy campaign lasted until mid-July, when the Allies broke out from the hedgerows into the open French countryside and moved toward the liberation of Paris in August. The invasion became a turning point in the war in Europe, enabling the Allies to drive through France, cross the Rhine River into Germany, and push on to Berlin.

Woonsocket, Rhode Island · United States