✦ History

Operation Overlord

June 6 – August 30, 1944

Codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe launched on 6 June 1944. After a 1,200-plane airborne assault, 5,000 vessels carried 160,000 troops across the Channel: Americans at Utah and Omaha, British at Sword and Gold, Canadians at Juno. Commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower, it put over two million Allied troops in France by the end of August 1944.

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Battles 2

June 6 – August 29, 1944
Normandy landings Normandy
August 19–25, 1944
Liberation of Paris Paris Dwight D. Eisenhower, Charles de Gaulle, Jacques Chaban-Delmas

Key commanders

Allies 5

Dwight D. Eisenhower military commander Omar Bradley Commander, U.S. First Army Bernard Montgomery Commander, 21st Army Group, Commanded Allied ground forces in Normandy Miles Dempsey Lieutenant General, Commander of the British Second Army Harry Crerar military commander

Axis 6

Adolf Hitler head of state/government Gerd von Rundstedt Commander-in-Chief West Erwin Rommel Commander, Army Group B, Commanded the defense of Normandy until wounded on 17 July Walter Model military commander Günther von Kluge military commander Paul Hausser military commander

Other 3

Charles de Gaulle participant Jacques Chaban-Delmas participant Georges Bidault participant