The objective of this invasion was to gain a foothold in Europe so the Allied Expeditionary Force could land and fight the Axis forces in northern Occupied France. The Allies already had forces in Southern Europe and Italy, but the extremely heavy fighting at Monte Casino and the inability to pass through the Italian Alps halted their advance. The plan was set in motion in late 1943 by COSSAC (Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander).

The landings took place along the beaches of the Normandy coastline. These beaches were at the heart of Fortress Europe. The name was given to the extremely fortified emplacements and defenses along the coastline. The “Atlantic Wall”, as it became to be known, was thought to be impenetrable by people on both sides of the fighting. The wall consisted of a massive, World War I like trench system, concertina (barbed wire entanglements), beac

Juno beach was the target landing area for the Canadian 3rd Infantry. When they came ashore the beach was lightly damaged by the pre-landing bombardment. This bombardment, like Omaha, was too little and too late. The invaders had to take out pillboxes, machine-gun nests and plenty of fortified concrete bunkers. Casualty rates for the first wave of troops was one in two. By nine fifteen the Canadians were off the beach and onto the roads and towns near by. By the end of the day two units, the 1st troop of the Canadian Hussar Tank regiment and the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada had completed their intended objective for the day. They were the only units to do so.

The real invasion would happen in several stages. First, Allied bombers would fly thousands of sorties over the invasion area. Second, troops would be loaded on their transports and begin the journey across the channel. Third, Allied paratroopers would board their transports and fly to their drop zones and drop behind the Atlantic Wall. These airborne units would disable German artillery emplacements and disable the ability for the Axis to reinforce themselves for several hours, and link up with the landing armies on the beachheads. Fourth, the beach landings would take place. 35,000 soldiers would storm the coast of Normandy on five different beaches. From West to East they are: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The American VII Corps would come ashore at Utah, and V Corps would land at Omaha. The British were assigned to the latter of the five beaches. They would land their XXX Corps at Gold, I Corps at Juno and Sword beaches. These forces would link up with each other and the paratroopers inland to make one giant beachhead. The invasion was originally planned for the morning of June 5th, but it was postponed a day due to stormy weather over the English Channel.

h obstacles, hundreds of machine-gun nests and pillboxes, minefields, bunkers containing mortars and concrete bunkers containing heavy artillery including 66mm, 75mm, 88mm, 115mm, and 155mm gun emplacements. The wall was manned by troops of the Ost (East) Battalion. Fifty percent of the battalion was made up of captured Polish and Russian soldiers that fought only so they would not be shot by the sergeants holding guns to their heads. Behind the wall, hundreds of fields of farmland were flooded to prevent airborne landings. The

Some topics in this essay:
Normandy Despite, Polish Russian, Omaha Juno, H-Hour Omaha, English Channel, Rifles Canada, Juno Sword, World War, George Patton, Juno German, 3rd infantry, pre-landing bombardment, juno sword, infantry ashore, five beaches, machine-gun nests, gold juno sword, utah beach, troops landed, june 6th, pillboxes machine-gun nests, heavy fighting, juno sword beaches, troops landed day, supreme allied commander,