1. D-Day By Greg Perez

2. Where to Strike • Planning for Operation Overlord took more than two years of planning. • Allied forces decided to strike between the Cotentin Peninsula and the Orne River. • The attack would stretch 50 miles on the beach. • The U.S would take Utah and Omaha beaches. The British would take Sword and Juno beaches. The Canadians would take Gold beach.

3. Atlantic Wall • Before the Allies can hit the beach, the Germans planted obstacles to tear up the bottoms of their boats. • The Allies knew if they were going to make it on to the beach they would have to wait for low tide. • Boats that were sinking would end up drowning soldiers who wore heavy gear before they ever hit the beach.

4. Air Attacks • Allied forces knew that air power would be success in Operation Overlord. • Five months before the attack, the German Luftwaffe air division was destroyed. • A total of 2,262 German pilots were killed. • P 51 Mustangs would escort bombers to hit manufacturing departments and railways to Berlin and back.

5. June 5th Paratroopers • Paratrooper’s mission was to delay German troops from arriving as back up on the beach. • 20,400 troops jumped that day. • Pilots took unnecessary precautions in order to avoid fire that soldiers missed the drop zone. • Soldiers ended up landing in marshes that were flooded and ended up drowning because of heavy gear.

6. June 6, 1944 • This was the date that Allied forces would attack the beaches of Normandy. • The morning before the attack, the ships opened fire on the coast on selected targets, but many of the shell missed leaving targets untouched. • Some boats were off course because of the tidal current. • This proved help to some Allied forces because there was less German fire there.

7. Omaha Beach • The first wave landed on the beach at 6:30am. • Enemy resistance was strong bunkers that looked down from cliffs 170 ft high. • Most tanks that launched for the beach failed by either sinking or being blown up by a mine. • Of the few tanks that did make it ashore they provided good cover for boat just arriving.

8. After the Battle • At the end of the day, on D-day, a total of 2,500 troops had died; a total of 10,000 deaths had been predicted. • D-day was considered a success. • The Allies slowly pushed towards Germany after the battle.