Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord
Part of the Western Front of World War II
Tank landing ships, with barrage balloons afloat, unloading supplies on Omaha for the break-out from Normandy.
Date 6 June – 30 August 1944 Location Northern France Result Decisive Allied victory
Belligerents
Western Allies:  United States  United Kingdom  Canada Free French Forces Polish Forces French Resistance  Australia Free Belgian Forces Free Czechoslovak Forces Free Greek Forces Free Luxembourgish Forces Free Dutch Forces  New Zealand Free Norwegian Forces	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander) Arthur Tedder (Deputy Supreme Allied Commander) Bernard Montgomery (Ground Forces Commander in Chief) Trafford Leigh-Mallory (Air Commander in Chief) Bertram Ramsay (Naval Commander in Chief)	Gerd von Rundstedt (Oberbefehlshaber West) Erwin Rommel (Army Group B)
Strength
1,452,000 troops (by 25 July) 2,052,299 (by the end of August)	380,000 troops (by 23 July) – 1,000,000+ 2,200 – 2,500 tanks and assault guns
Casualties and losses
225,606 to 226,386 casualties 4,101 aircraft ~4,000 tanks	400,000 casualties to 530,000+ killed or captured 2,127 aircraft ~2,200–2,400 tanks and assault guns lost
Civilian deaths: 11,000–19,000 killed in pre-invasion bombing 13,632–19,890 killed during invasion Total: 25,000–39,000 killed

Western Allies:

Civilian deaths:

Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day). A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.

The decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion in 1944 was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), and General Bernard Montgomery was named as commander of the 21st Army Group, which comprised all the land forces involved in the invasion. The Normandy coast was chosen as the site of the invasion, with the Americans assigned to land at sectors codenamed Utah and Omaha, the British at Sword and Gold, and the Canadians at Juno. To meet the conditions expected on the Normandy beachhead, special technology was developed, including two artificial ports called Mulberry harbours and an array of specialised tanks nicknamed Hobart's Funnies. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, Operation Bodyguard, using both electronic and visual misinformation. This misled the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in charge of developing fortifications all along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an invasion.

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