The Normandy landings beginning on ‘D-Day‘ made up the largest seaborne invasion in history and were the start of what was code-named ‘Operation Overlord’. The successful Allied advance into German-occupied Western Europe under the command of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower comprised the mass-deployment of 3 million troops.
Here are 10 facts about D-Day and the Allied advance at Normandy.
1. 34,000 French civilian casualties were sustained in the build up to D-Day
This included 15,000 deaths, as the Allies implemented their plan to block major road networks.
2. 130,000 Allied soldiers travelled by ship over the Channel to the Normandy coast on 6 June 1944
Watch NowThey were joined by around 24,000 airborne troops.
3. Allied casualties on D-Day amounted to around 10,000
German losses are estimated at anywhere from 4,000 to 9,000 men.
4. Within a week over 325,000 Allied soldiers had crossed the English Channel
By the end of the month around 850,000 had entered Normandy.
5. The Allies sustained over 200,000 casualties in the Battle of Normandy
German casualties totalled a similar amount but with a further 200,000 taken prisoner.
6. Paris was liberated on 25 August
7. The Allies lost around 15,000 airborne troops in the unsuccessful Market Garden operation in September 1944
Watch Now8. The Allies crossed the Rhine at four points over the course of March 1945
This paved the way for the final advance into the heart of Germany.
9. Up to 350,000 concentration camp prisoners are thought to have died in pointless death marches
At the end of World War Two, the Nazis forced 10,000 prisoners of war to march out of a Polish camp and away from the advancing Russian Red Army in freezing conditions. Watch Now
These occurred as the Allied advance accelerated into both Poland and Germany.
10. Goebbels used news of the death of President Roosevelt on 12 April to encourage Hitler that they remained destined to win the war
