An armada of 7,000 warships, 10,000 planes, 130,000 men… On June 6, 1944, Normandy faced a major material and logistical mobilization. The landing, otherwise known by the code name Overlord, will forever mark the beaches of Normandy. Decided during the meetings in Casablanca and Quebec, its development took more than a year during consultation between the allied powers.
From dawn, the British, Americans and Canadians for the most part planned a gigantic operation to seize five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
“This Landing is decisive to the extent that it will, in a sort of final phase, take (the enemy) in pincers with a large landing in the west and a large offensive in the east. In fact the great danger that Germany ran and finally knew, it’s fighting on two fronts”, underlines Claude Quétel, author of the book “The Landing for Dummies”, in the columns of France 3 regions.
A naval air operation which marks the start of the Battle of Normandy which lasts 80 days in total. From the assault on the landing beaches on June 6, 1944, to the liberation of Paris on August 25, 1944, the Battle of Normandy lasted almost three months.
In total, there were 20,000 Normans killed, including 14,000 in Lower Normandy alone. Most of the victims were killed by Allied aerial bombardments. For their part, the allies lost a little more than 200,000 men, including 37,000 killed. On the German side, the toll is extremely heavy. Between 300,000 to 450,000 deaths were counted, including 55,000 to 60,000 killed.