The Normandy Invasion, whose code name was Operation Overlord, was a landing operation carried out by Allied troops during World War II on June 6 1944. To date the Normandy Invasion is the largest sea invasion in history, with nearly three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to France occupied by Nazi German troops. This operation was successful because the German Enigma code had been cracked. This code was very important in sending German war strategy and tactics messages
The majority of combat units in this attack were United States, United Kingdom and Canadian troops. The French Independence Army and Polish troops joined the fighting after the landing phase. In addition, troops from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands and Norway also participated.
The invasion of Normandy opened with early morning parachute and glider landings, air and naval artillery attacks, and early morning amphibious landings, on June 6, D-Day. The battle for control of Normandy continued for more than two months, with the campaign breaking through German lines and spreading out from the Allied-held beaches. This invasion ended with the liberation of Paris, and the fall of the Falaise pocket at the end of August 1944.
Invas Planning
Allied troops rehearsed their roles for D-Day several months before the invasion. On April 28, 1944, south of Devon on the coast of England, 638 US soldiers and sailors were killed when a German Torpedo Boat unexpectedly attacked them while they were carrying out one of their training exercises, Exercise Tiger.
In the months leading up to the invasion, allied forces carried out a deception operation, Operation Fortitude, aimed at misleading the Germans regarding the date and place of the invasion.
There were several leaks before or on D-Day. One such leak was a crossword puzzle that came out in The Herald and Review six days before the beach landing occurred. Some of the answers consisted of Overlord, Neptune, Gold and other key terms to the invasions; the US government later declared that this was just a coincidence. Through the Cicero affair, the Germans obtained documents containing references to Overlord, but these documents lacked all detail. Double Cross, like Joan Pujol (codenamed Garbo), played an important role in convincing the German High Command that Normandy was the best diversionary attack. US Major General Henry Miller, chief supply officer of the US 9th Air Force, while a party at Claridge’s Hotel in London complained about the supply problems he was having but said after the invasion, he told them before 15 June supply would be easier. After being told, Eisenhower reduced Miller to colonel and sent him back to the United States where he later retired[citation needed]. Another leak was General Charles de Gaulle’s radio messages after D-Day. He, like all the other leaders, declared that this invasion was a real invasion. This had the potential to damage the Allied feint attacks, Northern Fortitude and Southern Fortitude. For example, General Eisenhower called the landings the beginning of the invasion.