1. D-Day 6 th June 1944

2. Aims of the lesson By the end of this lesson you will Understand why the Allies launched a second front in June 1944 Describe the events of D-day in detail Evaluate the success of the allied attack and the German response to it

3. The background In 1941 Germany invaded the USSR – initially successful but got bogged down Stalin asked GB and the USA to open a second front in order to take 3m German troops away from the Russian front Churchill wanted to defeat the Germans in Africa first – Stalin thought that he did this to weaken the USSR

4. Operation Overlord American General Dwight D Eisenhower was put in charge of the invasion of France Operation Overlord He led the Germans to believe that the invasion would take place in a the Pars de Calais – the shortest crossing point

5. The deception The city of Calais was bombed heavily to trick the Germans Dummy camps were built in Kent and wooden tanks built A phantom army was moved around southern England Only a few Germans believed that the landings would occur in Normandy

6. 6 th June 1944 The scale of the invasion took the Germans by surprise Five separate landing beaches – Gold, Juno and Sword (GB and Canada) Utah and Omaha (USA) Hitler thought it was a trick and kept his troops near Calais – by the time he worked out what has happening it was too late and the allies had a bridgehead

8. The landings Grim on day one – 3600 British and Canadians killed or wounded – 6000 Americans – most on Omaha beach By the end of day one 150 000 soldiers had landed and had begun to move inland By 12 th June 325 000 allied troops were in France – the Germans fought hard and the going was tough By 25 th August Paris was liberated