# UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

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## D-Day

The opening of a second front in western Europe was a major aim of Allied strategy during World War II. This objective was achieved by the invasion of “Fortress Europe,” the D-Day landing at Normandy on the northern coast of France, on June 6, 1944. That day, a force of almost 7,000 naval craft supported the landing of more than 130,000 U.S., British, and Canadian troops on five beaches. During the invasion, Allied aircraft flew more than 10,000 missions to attack targets in the area of the landings; more than 125 warships bombarded the vicinity of the landing beaches. The amphibious landings were preceded by a massive airborne assault that began the previous night, when some 23,000 Allied troops landed by parachute and glider near the invasion beaches.

The U.S. 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions made the most difficult landing on Omaha Beach. Stiff German resistance here caused over 3,000 casualties before the Allied troops could establish their positions by the end of the first day. On D-Day itself, British and Canadian forces suffered more than 4,000 casualties; the Americans about 6,000.

During the next week, Allied troops overcame mounting German resistance to unite the invasion beaches into one large beachhead. A successful Allied deception plan fooled the German into defending the French coast on the Pas de Calais, where Hitler was convinced the invasion would come. As a result, the Germans did not move to reinforce the Normandy front for weeks after the landing. Nonetheless, the Germans contained Allied troops in their slowly expanding beachhead for six weeks.

Toward the end of July 1944, U.S. troops led the breakout from the beachhead near the town of St. Lo and began to pour into northern France. By mid-August, Allied troops had encircled and destroyed much of the German army in Normandy in the Falaise pocket. Spearheaded by General George Patton's Third Army, the Allies then raced across France, reaching the border of Germany in September.

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