A day to remember

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Roy Lynch
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  On June 6, 1944, a date forever known as D-Day, a armada crossed a narrow strip of sea from England to Normandy, France and cracked the Nazi grip on Western Europe. 

In preparation for D-Day or "Operation Overlord," the United States and Great Britain concentrated on training with land, naval and air forces for six months prior to the attack. More than 12,000 allied planes swept the sky to photograph enemy defenses, drop supplies to the resistance, bomb railways and attack Germany's industries to isolate the battlefield. 

The invasion began with more than 5,000 ships ranging from battleships to landing craft that carried and unloaded nearly 130,000 troops on five beaches. Along 50 miles of the Normandy coast, naval gunfire provided support for the soldiers as they fought their way across the beach. 

The forces in the air controlled the skies above with more than 1,000 transport aircraft dropping paratroopers to secure the flanks and exits of the beach. 

Adolf Hitler's forces responded, but their leader was not willing to send a counter attack with his armored division. After midday He changed his mind. His forces drove in between the British and Canadian divisions and almost reached the sea. Had they succeeded the landing at Normandy Beach may have failed. 

By the end of August 1944 all of Northern France had been liberated.