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Show The Allied invasion: June 6, 1944 et. = The Allied attack Softening the beaches 10 Preparation for the Aflied assault came first from the-skies. From midnight to dawn, the 8th Air Force dropped 5,853 tons of bombs on coastal defenses, and then ™@ The enemy: A dictator's powerful military union and treacherouspolitical agenda. ™@ The obstacle: A 2,400-mile buildup of Nazi troops andfortresses. M@ Thebattleground: Normandy, France, a once-peaceful region of rocky coasts and rolling hills. ; another 1,763 tons in the first 30 minutes. ; ' #3 ~ Across the Channel Before dawn on Tuesday, the Allied armada, including 700 warships and 2,700 support ships, with 2,500 landing craft, closed in on the beaches. @ The outcome: A slow turn in the tide of a bitter, bloody war. SCOTLAND Settingthe stage While Hitler slept Hitler anticipated an Allied attack in France; By 1943, the need for a massive European invasion to however, he believed the invasion would begin in “drive back Adolf Hitler’s growing Reich wasclear. U.S. Calais. He also expected the Allies to makea false President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill chose France as the primary battleground, and a §0-mile stretch of the Normandy coast as their point of entry. The invasion wasoriginally scheduled for Monday, June 5, However, a treacherous storm on June 4 forced start to throw the Germans off track. His subordinates were well aware of his theory and afraid of his wrath, so as Allied troops began ee General Dwight D. Eisenhower to postponeit a day.If the poor weather had continued on June6, the Allies would have waited another two weeks, until the next time streaming into Normandy at dawn, they allowed Hitler to sleep. He awokeat 10 a.m., ate breakfast, then an aide told him of the Allied action. By the time reserves were ordered to help the coastal defense forces, D-Day was under way. low tide andfirst light would coincide. GREAT BRITAIN WALES 2 ngsepbimiaeiea2 Throughout May, 3.5 million men from Europe,Africa, Asia, North America and Australiafiltered into Britain to prepare for the mission. There, too, were all the planes, ships, guns, tanks, trucks, ammunition, fuel, food, clothing, and medicines neededto carry out the invasion. ENGLAND London, badly ravaged in the wat’s early years, proved a perfect vantage point for D-Day preparations. The night of June 5, as the Allied forces took off for Normandy, bombers and C-47s flew over Londonfor two hours in an uninterrupted stream. Taking off from22 | British airfields, 1,200 transport aircraft and 700 gliders set forth on the greatest airborne assault in history. Hitting the shore Spotty defense at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches helped the British and Canadians secure - London @ Southampton Shoreham-by-Sea Portsmouth: Bournemouth a + strongholds. The U.S. troops were assigned to Utah and Omaha beaches, and they metvastly different fates at each beach. The first troops of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division landed at 6:30 a.m. at Utah, the least-defended beach. Of the 23,000 men who landedthere, only 197 werekilled. Farther east, the Americans were devastated at the site they would christen “Bloody Omaha.” A high seawall and a steep, pebbly bank made the beach a 21st Army Group Gen. Montgomery Staging area U.S. Ss British 1st Army Gon, Bradley 2nd Army Gen. Dempsey “ee M: CR ENS CRE Ree ey eeu ES tough target. But the Allies had to aim for it, as it lay between Utah Beachand the British beaches. By the end of the first day, the troops had overtaken a beachhead six miles wide and two miles deep, but at a cost of 4,649 men. Among the massesat Omaha: novelist Ernest Hemingway, working as a war correspondent. wgthe 8 eo" Ce. a cd ‘. ae 5 3 Ue be In the skies The efforts of the British 6th and the U.S. 82nd and 101st airborne divisions were muddled by the stormy weather over the coast. The British secured the Caen Canal bridge withlittle difficulty. The Americans, however, were spread over a 25-mile area. One group of 30 paratroopers, assigned to drop ouside Ste.-Mere-Eglise for a surprise assault, ei accidentally dropped right into the town square. Three-quarters of the men were scattered too far away to see on any action. Ultimately, however, the disorganized fe\ airborne effort managed to confuse the Germans. "¢ # Ce i < The outcome By the end of D-Day, about 2,500 Allies were Avranches = oo Calais dead—aloss, certainly, but far less than the 10,000 deaths officials had predicted. Including the injured, total Allied casualties were fewer than 12,000. Within a day, the airborne and seaborne forces united and began pushing deeper into France. The offensive that began June 6 gavethe Allies a toehold in Europe that would grow painstakingly but consistently until it ended in Berlin 11 months later with the liberation of Nazi Germany. GER. FRANCE SPAIN ASSOCIATED PRESS and STANDARD-E XAMINER |