World War II D-Day By: Bernard Moussad & Kaylee Rickard Mr. Taylor – 1 st Block

Cause of the Normandy Invasion Winston Churchill was convinced that the only way to defeat Germany was on French soil. Joseph Stalin demanded that the Allies open up a front in the west. In 1944, Churchill, F.D.R, and Stalin finally agreed to take action. They met in the Iranian capital of Tehran to discuss how they would halt the procession of German forces in France. Allied armies were to invade an occupied France and launch a major offensive to bring down Hitler’s armies.

Where It All Began The initial invasion started on the morning of Tuesday, June 6, It took place in the Normandy region of France. All of the ships and airplanes that were used in this battle were stationed along the 50-mile stretch of beaches located there. These troops were each assigned to one of the five beaches on Normandy as seen on the diagram at the right. More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft were on the side of the Allies at the D-Day invasion.

Leaders of the Battle The most well known leader of D- Day was this country’s 34 th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was given the title Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. Now that he was in charge, he had to decide when to do the attack. It had been postponed before because of inclement weather and it seemed as if the same thing would cause them to postpone it again. Eisenhower wouldn’t allow it and decided that on June 6, 1944, they would launch their invasion on Normandy.

Leaders (cont.) Another leader of D-Day was General George Patton, also known as “Old Blood and Guts”. He didn’t exactly lead an army, but he did play a big part in D-Day. His job was to cover up the Allied Army and disguise the destination of the invasion. Patton was to head the Third Army, which was still in the United States, and the First United States Army Group, a fake army built to fool the Germans. He was chosen because the Germans knew that Eisenhower would pick his best general to lead the Allied forces at D-Day and they believed that to be Patton. Fake tanks, artillery pieces, trucks, jeeps, planes, and ships were what made up Patton’s army.

Leaders cont. General Omar Bradley was the most senior commander of American ground troops in Europe from the time of D-Day to the German surrender. Between 1918 and 1941, he served at a number of military establishments including Forts Benning and Leavenworth. He was hand-picked by General Dwight Eisenhower to command the First U.S. Army during the invasion He was recognized as an affective and efficient leader. Under Bradley's direction, American forces freed Paris.

Video of D-Day The following video features events of D-Day. It also tells of the five beaches at Normandy that the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain landed on. tU

The German Offensive The first reports of Allied paratroopers landings in Normandy began to reach General Gerd von Rundstedt’s headquarters on the morning of June 6. He stated, “We are not confronted by a major operation”, and decided not to awake Hitler. At the time the Third Reich’s best troops were tied up in either Russia or Italy. This left Normandy to be defended by volunteers, in order to be released from POW camps, and medically unfit personnel who had been taken from front lines elsewhere. No one had a sufficiently complete picture of events to believe that this was much more than a small-scale raid.

The Impact of D-Day D-Day impacted the progress of the Allied powers in preventing the German take-over of some parts of France. It was the beginning of the end for the Germans, changing the whole face of the war. D- Day led to many more victories for the Allied forces, which led to the defeat of the Axis powers. After this invasion, Allied troops were able to take Cherbourg, the last of the deep-sea ports, in which they could easily get military supplies to troops. Other invasions include the takeover of Caen, a city in France occupied by German forces, and St.-Lo would fall to the Allies on July 19, 1944, under the command of General Bradley.

Works Cited france-map.html france-map.html launches-operation-overlord launches-operation-overlord Editors of Time. D-Day 24 Hours That Saved the World. New York: Time Books, Print.