Timeline of Events
- 1942
- January 16
- January 20
- March 1
- March 21
- May 27
- June 9
- June 28
- July 15
- July 23
- August 25
- September 5
- October 26
- December 17
- 1943
- February 1
- February 2
- March 13
- April 19
- August 3
- September 20
- October 14
- October 19
- November 3
- December 28
- 1944
- January 16
- January 22
- March 19
- May 15
- May 15
- June 6
- June 18
- July 9
- July 11
- July 20
- July 23
- August 1
- August 2
- August 9
- October 7
- November 25
- November 25
- December 11
- 1945
- January 17
- January 27
- February 4
- February 13
- February 13
- March 7
- April 2
- April 4
- April 11
- April 11
- April 11
- April 12
- April 13
- April 15
- April 17
- April 20
- April 23
- April 25
- April 27
- April 29
- April 30
- April 30
- May 4
- May 4
- May 5
- May 7
- June 4
- August 15
- September 2
- November 20
- November 21
- November 29
- December 1
- December 11
- December 22
D-Day
D-Day —— National Archives - Film
The Atlantic Wall has been penetrated. There, after the first assault, the Allies clung precariously to a few beaches. But now they have a solid foothold on Fortress Europa. Men and materiel have poured on to the newly won beachheads with every favorable tide, and on some unfavorable ones. The Allied command has announced that the battle of the beaches is complete. The tremendous offensive was bitterly contested. The Nazis knew that each passing hour diminished their chances of throwing the Allies back in to the sea. But the American, British, and Canadian troops pressed forward firmly on to the soil of France. This was no pushover, driving the Germans back. Some of our troops dropped within yards of the water's edge. There were two enemies: the Germans, and the heavy seas. German prisoners were taken almost at once. With the beaches free of enemy fire, the Allies streamed heavy equipment ashore. Lumbering bulldozers set about clearing the way for vital air landing strips. The blast of Allied shells left shattered German defenses and many dead German defenders. Survivors were given prompt attention by medical-corps men. Some were grateful, many bewildered by the smashing Allied blow.
June 6, 1944
On June 6, 1944, under the code name Operation “Overlord,” US, British, and Canadian troops land on the beaches of Normandy, France, on the English Channel coast east of Cherbourg and west of Le Havre.
After the German conquest of France in 1940, the opening of a second front in western Europe had been a major aim of Allied strategy during World War II. Under the overall command of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower and using the code name Operation “Overlord,” US, British, and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, on the English Channel coast east of Cherbourg and west of Le Havre. A successful Allied deception plan led the Germans to believe the main attack would fall further north and east on the coast near Calais and the Belgian border. Fooled, the Germans moved only slowly to reinforce the Normandy defenses after the initial landing. Yet the Germans contained Allied troops in their slowly expanding beachhead for six weeks. Allied forces finally broke out of the Normandy beachhead near the town of St. Lo in late July and began the liberation of northern France. By mid-August, Allied troops had encircled and destroyed much of the German army in Normandy (Falaise pocket) and by late August, Free French forces liberated Paris.
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