With the idea approved, planning began in earnest, with a the selected date set for early May 1944. The Allied commander in North America, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, was selected to lead the American forces in the invasion. “Operation Overlord” was the code name given to the enterprise. This plan covered the landing of armies and also the battles that would follow on the road to Berlin. While stupendous amounts of war material were shipped toward France, the Overlord planners looked at their maps, weighed the weather, the tides, the beaches, and made massive amounts of calculations to determine where the invasion would succeed. (Dank 8)

If this invasion failed, it would take

13,400 American paratroopers were getting close to the drop zone while the pathfinders set up their radios and lights. The planes kept radio silence so the pathfinders could not tell them about the cloud cover ahead. When the planes crossed the coast, they ran into the cloud cover and lost all visibility. From instinct the pilots separated, some rising, other descending and all of them peeling off to the left or right. Suddenly they broke through the cloud cover and searchlights, tracers, and explosions filled the sky. The planes were helpless and German fire caused them to speed up so fast it was unsafe to drop the paratroopers. Many planes were off course by more than ten miles and most were hit by shrapnel. Some of the jumping men were hit by planes below and killed by German gun fire. Most landed safely but were scattered about the land. They used toy clickers to identify themselves, but some were still shot by friendly fire. Overall the airborne attack was successful and most of the units fulfilled their objectives when they landed. (Ambrose 197-205)

"Utah" was the code name for the farthest beach on the right of the five landing areas of the Normandy Invasion. The landing plan went wrong from the beginning. Strong currents beset the landing craft, and the area was obscured by smoke from the preceding shore bombardment. But the main problem was the loss of three of the four designated control craft which were sunk by mines. The fourth control craft eventually rounded up the confused landing craft looking for directions and, using a bullhorn for communication, led them in. The troops landed 2,000 yards east of the designated landing area, in the less defended Victor sector. General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., quickly realized the error. Uttering his famous remark, "We'll start the war from here!" he ordered the division to advance. By 12 PM contact had been made with paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division around the town o

Some topics in this essay:
War II, Americans Bodies, Normandy Invasion, Utah Beach, Special DD, France Overlord, Erwin Rommel, Saint-Laurent Colleville�nowhere, Dwight Eisenhower, Infantry Division, cloud cover, landing craft, german fire, code name, bloody omaha, utah beach, beach five landing, five landing, fly course, invade france, world war ii, troops dropped, five landing normandy, german fire caused, landing normandy invasion,