Essay on D-Day: A Turning Point in World History

In the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commander of operation D-day, “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.” This inspired people to not give up fighting for the world. Eisenhower was the commander of operation D-day where the troops would attack five beaches in France. The events of D-day were a major turning point in World War II. First, the state of conflict in Europe had significant effects on D-day. Second, most of D-day’s goals were accomplished during the attacks. Third, the events of D-day were very crucial for winning the war.

The invasion of D-Day is the largest joint sea born invasion in the history of the world. Although very well planned, the amphibious landings were a gamble made by the Allied forces to gain foothold in Europe. Every American has heard about the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe on D-Day. However, how many Americans stop and think about how much planning, preparation and luck that went into making it the success that it is remembered for? I will attempt to depict what it took to conquer the Normandy beaches using historical and military facts that make it such an iconic event in the world’s history still today.

Dwightshowed his skill of organizing the movement of large numbers of troops. Hewas then promoted several times in the next few years.Then in 1941Eisenhower was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Third Army (Hargrove49). Then shortly after the promotion to "Chief of Staff", Ike was againpromoted to the position of Brigadier General (Hargrove 50). Soon he wasput in charge of the Allied forces in Europe (Hargrove 52). He nowcontrolled the armies of the United States, Britain, and Canada (Hargrove7). Eisenhower and other Allied Generals planned the invasion of Normandy (Hargrove 12). Eisenhower would lead the 6,483 sea vessels,about 800,000 men, and 12,000 aircraft across the English Channel toNormandy France (Benson 12). Eisenhower had hoped that the Germanswould fear an invasion at the close French city of Calais ("The Beachesof..." 9). There were to be five beaches invaided with the code names;Omaha, Utah, Gold, Sword, and Juno ("The beaches of..." 28). In the endDwight D. Eisenhower led the Allies to victory on June 6,1944. IfEisenhower had made a wrong choice, Hitler would have continued to rainV-1 & V-2 rockets on London (Benson 7). Eisenhower had nowsuccessfully completed the most important invasion in history wiping out allmost 100% of German units. Luckily Allied forces only suffered 76% casualties (Barry 30). Dwight Eisenhower was one of the

The Battle of Normandy involved many different allied forces. Primary allied forces involved the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Canada. There were also many other soldiers from supporting allied forces such as Belgium, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Australia, France, Poland, Norway, and New Zealand. The actions taken of having joint forces was

June 6, 1944. The world has been at war for almost 5 years. The Axis Powers have occupied France and a lot of Europe. The USSR is pushing the Germans out of Russia and back towards Germany. The Allies are preparing to invade and take back Europe and defeat the Axis. The invasion starts with a mix of British and American paratroopers being dropped behind enemy lines to take important and over 100,00 soldiers are preparing to launch one of the largest sea invasions of all time. The soldiers are a mix of British, Canadian, and United States origin. The 5 beaches being attacked are codenamed Utah, Gold, Sword, Juno, and Omaha. In the end, the invasion as a whole turned out to be a success on every beach. There were many reasons for this success,

handling a fleet of all these types in action. At this point the planning for the raid seemed a purely

On much smaller scales, the Battle of Normandy was also quite important. The depressed Europeans, who had been living in the shadow of war for the past four years, were delighted by the news of victory. In

Britain and France desperately awaited the moment when the US would fully join in the fighting in Europe during World War II, and D-Day brought that full fledged involvement. If not for the efforts of the United States of America, its cooperation and planning with its allies, the invasion would not have been successful. It was successful, however, due to previous planning, the level of supplies and men from the US combined with the European allies, as well as the divided German forces. D-Day was the beginning of liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control. Hitler had known that in order for the Allies to be successful, there would have to be an invasion of mainland Europe - which his forces controlled most of - and that it would come from northwestern Europe, with Great Britain being the jumping off point. But if he was expecting the attack, why was he not better prepared? The planning that had gone into the invasion at the beaches of Normandy on the coast of France had been thorough and extensive, with a large part of that planning being the intentional disinformation about the location of the invasion, thus fooling the Nazi leader. These factors explain why Operation Overlord was successful, and thus became the turning point in the world war.

Although he helped American troops in North Africa, Eisenhower’s biggest feat was the invasion of Nazi-occupied Western Europe, better known as D-Day. As the Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in World War II at the time, Eisenhower gave permission for a massive invasion called Operation Overlord. He only had a window of four days to launch the attack, but jumped at the opportunity (Koves). The 40 mile stretch of the beaches of Normandy, France was divided into five sections: Juno, Sword, Omaha, Gold, and Utah (Operation Overlord Animated Map). Late at night on June 6th, 1944, aerial troops secured both the eastern and western parts of the beach. In the morning, seaborne soldiers began to attack the coast (Operation Overlord Animated Map). By June 27th, the Germans had wrecked their ports, assuming this would slow down the Allies. Their attempt failed, and finally, on August 25th, the French army successfully liberated Paris (BBC News).

The Battle of Normandy was a turning point in World War II. Canada, America, and Great Britain arrived at the beaches of Normandy and their main objective was to push the Nazi’s out of France. The Invasion at Normandy by the Allied Powers winning this battle lead to the liberation of France and Western Europe. Most importantly Hitler was being attacked from both the eastern and western front, and caused him to lose power. If the Allied Powers did not succeed On D-Day, Hitler would’ve taken over all of Europe. In a document written by General Dwight Eisenhower he persuades the allied powers to invade Normandy. Dwight Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890. Eisenhower became the 34th president of the United States. He served as the

The Germans had deployed the 352nd infantry division in a defensive doctrine on Omaha beach , Normandy. In hopes of

Patton was relieved of active duty until he was summoned by Eisenhower to lead the 3rd American army in the breakthrough Normandy. Eisenhower, more than anybody, knew the talents that Patton had in war; and with the 3rd American Army, Patton cut through the German lines all the way to Rennes, and then to Nantes, and then stopped at Metz for gas and munitions. Patton was always a step ahead of everyone – especially the Germans. After the push stopped, Patton was ordered to move from Saar and attack General Von Rundstedt – which was deemed impossible by others but not Patton. After Rundstedt was captured, Rundstedt gave a high praise to Patton for his

The Normandy Invasion may have been the single most important battle on the Western Front of World War II. Much planning went into the siege of these beaches that ensured a tough, but inevitable victory, as well as other factors, such as the exploitation of the Germans’ ignorance of the attack.

One of the most significant encounters of World War II was the Battle of Normandy (the first day of which is commonly referred to as D-Day). Nearly three million soldiers were deployed for the invasion. Those deployed consisted mainly of American and British soldiers, however Canadian, French, Polish, Belgian, and Czech forces were represented as well (Jensen). The battle was fought in an effort to gain European ground and to reduce the German potential for overrunning Russia (Lucas). The Battle of Normandy was significant in that it was the turning point of World War II, incurred heavy casualties on each side, and was the greatest amphibious landing in history (Cohen).

Operation Overlord was the attack of the US and its allies along the beaches of France. Even though the general said these words on June 5th the attack was postponed to the next day. on June 6th at 6;30 am the war started when the Germans were caught off guard and they were attacked. By June 11, 1944 over 160,000 US and allied troops made it into the beaches of successfully (WWII Museum.). The Allied forces had 3,000 landing crafts, 2,500 ships, and 500 vessels were in the fight to attack Nazi Germany (History.com/staff). When the people in the concentration camps heard about the allies coming they started to get hope . Many Germans had to take detours around big bridges because the allied forces were destroying them during the war (A+E Networks). At one attack point Roi-Namur over 5,000 Japanese people died and less than 500 US people died. The defeat of Nazi Germany was a very important part of winning the war and saving many people’s