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The German forces had created a line of defences along the coast of Europe from The Netherlands westwards along the northern coast of France, to prevent an Allied invasion force landing in Europe.

The defensive line was made up of gun batteries, observation posts, bunkers and radar towers. The heaviest defences were at the Pas de Calais in Normandy, the narrowest stretch of the English Channel.

December 1943

US General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed as Supreme Allied Commander, in overall charge of Operation Overlord (the D-Day landings and subsequent fighting in Normandy) and General Montgomery (“Monty”) was appointed to command 21st Army Group, with responsibility for the assault landings on D-Day and the following ground fighting.

March 1944

The Allied headquarters for D-Day (SHAEF, or Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) moved from Norfolk House in central London to Bushy Park, on the western outskirts of the capital.

2 May1944

Exercise Fabius took place along the coast of southern England. This was the largest series of training exercises and the last before D-Day. 25,000 troops landed at a number of different beaches: the US 1st and 29th Divisions at Slapton Sands, the British 50th Division at Hayling Island; the Canadian 3rd Division at Bracklesham Bay; the British 3rd Division at Littlehampton. The exercises lasted until 8 May.

Before the Invasion took place coded message from the BBC were broadcast to the French Resistance groups to sabotaged rail and communication links.

Dummy paratroops were dropped all over Normandy and minesweepers went ahead of the main invasion force to clear routes through German minefields in the English Channel.

After one postponement due to bad weather, it was eventually launched on 6 June 1944. Before the invasion started the Allies mounted a massive deception operation, Operation Bodyguard, misleading the Germans into believing an attack would be concentrated on Calais.

5th June

At about 11 p.m., the British and American airborne troops begin taking off from bases in England. They will be the first Allied soldiers to land in Normandy, by glider and parachute, in the early hours of the following morning.

6th June

D-Day! The first troops land just from the air after midnight. British airborne troops capture the bridges at Benouville (Pegasus Bridge) and Ranville to the east of the landing beaches, while on either side of the beaches, British and US airborne pathfinders parachute in to mark the drop zones for their comrades, due to arrive over the next hours. Within about six hours, the first troops will be landing on the beaches.

The Utah landing area was approximately 5 km (3 m) wide and was located northwest of the Carentan estuary on sandy, duned beaches. Compared with German fortifications at Omaha Beach, the defenses at Utah, based on fixed infantry positions, were sparse because the low-lying areas immediately behind the landing area were flooded and the Germans could control the flooding with locks.

The first troops reaching the shore were those of the 1st and 2nd battalion of the 8th Infantry Regiment. They were not at the scheduled place but had landed 1800 metres south.

The 8th Infantry Regiment reached his objectives of the D Day. They had relieved the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne in the area of Pouppeville and were positioned to protect the division from the South-West. The only problem was coming from a German pocket of resistance situated at the North of "Les Forges", where the gliders were to land.

The two other regiments of the 4th division did not achieve their objectives. The main reason was the flooded zone which delayed them all day long.

The whole 4th division landed in the 15 first hours of the landing day. The division only lost 197 men during the day and by the night of the 6th of June, 20,000 men and 1,700 vehicles were on Utah.

It was here the first elements of the US 29th Division and the 1st Division ran into stiff opposition. Without armour support - most of the DD 'swimming' tanks had foundered in the heavy swell - the infantry was cut down by heavy German fire.

Very soon an immense traffic jam of landing craft and amphibious vehicles built up about 1,000 yards offshore. By 09.00 the beach was packed with thousands of dead and wounded men, while hundreds of bodies floated in the blood-red surf.

The American commander, General Omar Bradley, radioed Eisenhower for permission to evacuate the beachhead, but the signal got lost in radio traffic. By the time it reached Eisenhower, naval gunfire support and the sheer guts of some exceptional officers and men had pushed the Germans from the bluffs

On Gold, Juno and Sword beaches, British and Canadian troops were supported by the specialised assault vehicles of 79th Armoured Division. On all three, German strongpoints initially inflicted heavy casualties, but a combination of Petard mortar and Crocodile tank soon smashed the defences.

On Gold and Juno, British and Canadian forces pushed inland rapidly. On Sword, British 3rd Division was held up three miles short of Caen by a network of German defensive positions along a ridge. Finally, late that afternoon, the 21st Panzer Division launched a counterattack. Some units managed to reach the coast, though they were too weak to hold their positions.

U.S. AIRBORNE: 2,499

U.S. / UTAH: 197

U.S. / OMAHA: 2,000

U.K. / GOLD: 413

CAN. / JUNO: 1,204

U.K. / SWORD: 630

U.K. AIRBORNE: 1,500

CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE: 8,443

REASONABLE GUESS: 9,000 total (of which 3,000 may have been fatalities)

Source: Colonel C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign (Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War, Volume III).

On 25th August 1944 - after 11 weeks of fighting and 600,000 casualties - the Allies liberated Paris. The Germans were forced to retreat – a withdrawal that didn’t stop until the Nazis reached Berlin.