In 1944, US and British armies invaded the continent of Europe in the great 'Operation Overlord', landing in Normandy. It was hazardous and risky, especially for the first troops to land, who would necessarily be few in numbers. They would be slaughtered if the Germans had masses of tanks waiting for them.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander had said that success depended on two factors:

1. The Germans had to be taken by surprise. Several tricks and deceptions were used to make them think the landings would be at Calais and not Normandy. For example on 'D-Day' (the first day of the landings) the German radar screens at Calais showed what seemed to be an invasion fleet approaching; this effect was achieved by launches towing barrage balloons and aircraft circling and dropping 'window' (metallised paper).

2. Even supposing the Germans were taken by surprise, there was the danger that they might rush forces more rapidly overland than the Allies could bring in reinforcements over the sea and beaches. If they did, the Germans would drive the invaders into the sea. To win this 'battle of the build-up', as Eisenhower called it, he insisted that the heavy bomber forces should spend weeks before the invasion destroying the French railway system, which is what Germans would use to transport their troops. The French Resistance joined in with sabotage of roads and railways. The Allied air forces had control of the air -5000 of their aircraft flying on D-Day and they had shot up anything seen moving in daylight. The German panzers could only move at night.

The German leaders could not agree on how to resist the invasion. Field Marshal von Rundstedt, C-in-C in France, wanted to keep four panzer divisions well back and rush them in wherever the landings were made. Rommel, who was in charge of the channel defences, said Allied air power would prevent this. He thought the landings would be in Normandy and he wanted four panzer divisions ready 'at the water's edge'. Hitler did not allow this. The disagreements were never sorted out. Rommel strewed the Normandy beaches with obstacles of steel and wood to wreck Allied landing crafts.

On 6 June 1944 the Allied invasion force of five divisions; about 4060 vessels from ports all round southern England crossed the Channel without incident and landed on five beaches on the Normandy coast. Three airborne divisions, two American and one British, had been dropped beforehand to secure positions to each side. At dawn German sentries looked out to sea and were shaken by the sight of the vast invasion fleet. They were taken completely by surprise.

The American landings were made on the beaches code-named 'Utah' and 'Omaha'. The transport ships anchored a long way out and the troops went in on assault craft (LCAS) lowered from the lifeboat davits. At 'Utah', the German coastal defences were damaged by heavy bombing and a naval bombardment with big guns. Amphibious or 'swimming' tanks (ones that could be used on land and water) arrived on the beaches with the first wave of infantry, and the landing was a success. In a few hours troops were moving inland to link up with the airborne forces.

At 'Omaha', however, the landings came close to disaster. The German defences here were the strongest the Americans ever had to face. Several of the LCAs were swamped in rough seas and sank. Others only kept afloat when soaked and seasick soldiers frantically baled out water with their helmets. The US bomber planes could not see the German coastal defences through low cloud and dropped their bombs too far inland. Intense German gunfire from the cliffs overlooking the beach broke most of the first wave of infantry companies. The swimming' tanks sank in the rough sea. Many men were killed, wounded or drowned. Some survivors crouched behind beach obstacles and, keeping in the water moved in with the tide. The wounded who could not move drowned. It had been planned to clear gaps in the beach obstacles but the tide came in too fast for this. LCAs crowding in with succeeding waves of troops cruised up and down searching for gaps and then crashed their way in under intense gunfire. The troops who managed to get up the beach sheltered, disorganised and exhausted, behind a bank of shingle and sea wall. The later waves of troops used their radio sets (the first had lost theirs in the water) to direct naval gunfire against the concrete strongpoints of the enemy. Destroyers nudged in so close to do this that they scraped their bows on the beach. Eventually 'Bloody Omaha' was captured, but many men died in the process.

Two British divisions landed at 'Gold' and 'Sword' beaches and a Canadian division landed in between, at 'Juno'. Tanks gave covering fire from the water's edge as 'flail' tanks, whirling heavy chains in front of them, cleared paths through minefields. Other tanks hurled big explosive charges at concrete strongpoints and the sea wall or laid bridges over wide ditches. The British and Canadian landings mostly went well and infantry and armour, helped by gunfire from destroyers, knocked out the strongpoints of the 'Atlantic Wall' that survived the first bombardments.

However, although the British on D-Day secured good beachheads, tanks did not move inland and Caen was not taken as planned. Only one German panzer attack was made. Rommel was away on leave, thinking the weather was too bad for the invasion. Hitler thought the main attack was yet to come at Calais, Normandy being only a hoax, and held back some of the panzers. Altogether D-Day was a remarkable victory for the Allies. Some

156000 men landed; the relatively low number of 2500 were killed, and 8500 were wounded. It might have been a disastrous failure if the Germans had had two or three panzer divisions near the beaches.