Military history

D-Day: History in an Hour

D-Day: History in an Hour

Midnight, Tuesday 6 June 1944: the beginning of D-Day, the operation to invade Nazi-occupied Western Europe and initiate the final phase of World War II. A vast undertaking, it involved 12,000 aircraft and an amphibious assault of almost 7,000 vessels. 160,000 troops would cross the English Channel during Operation Overlord, paving the way for more than three million allied troops to enter France by the end of August 1944.

Chapter 1. Background

Chapter 2. Deception

Chapter 3. Eisenhower

Chapter 4. The Atlantic Wall

Chapter 5. Bombing

Chapter 6. Training

Chapter 7. Eve of the Invasion

Chapter 8. 6 June: D-Day (the 1,738th day of the war)

Chapter 9. Five Beaches

Chapter 10. The Battle of Normandy

Chapter 11. Liberation

Chapter 12. What Might Have Been…

Appendix 1: Key Players

Appendix 2: Timeline

Appendix 3: D-Day and Battle of Normandy Statistics

Appendix 4: Normandy Cemeteries

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