Dday questions...?

Question

What's D day about?
how did it happen?
who were involved in dday?
Where did it happen?

Answer 1

It was about finishing WWII by storming "Fortress Europe". After the British evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, Germany had overrun and fortified most of Europe. D day (or "Overlord") was the Allies coming back at them with the intention of finally winning the war.

It happened because Britain, France and America all wanted it to happen and poured resources into it to ensure that it would succeed. It could only gather momentum after the defeat of the U-boat packs had made the North Atlantic safe for the shipping convoys.

Those involved included exiled combatants from all the occupied countries in Europe - Norway, Belgium, Holland, France, Poland, Czechslovakia, Yugoslavia, Greece. Churchill's wartime speeches had kept up everybody's determination. Major bodies of British and American troops led the invasion. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was Supreme Commander.

One of the most important and under-rated people involved was U.S. General George Patton, who agreed to command a huge non-existent army group which the Germans became convinced would attack at the Pas de Calais, across the narrowest part of the English Channel. Without such a believable commander, this key deception would have had no chance of succeeding. In fact, the Germans kept huge numbers of troops and equipment at Calais for weeks after D-day, being sure that as soon as they moved them towards Eisenhower's dummy (!!) invasion, Patton's forces would storm over and make an easy landing.

It all happened on the Normandy coast and the east coast of the Cherbourg peninsula, in Northern France.

Answer 2

The Normandy landings were the first successful opposed landings across the English Channel for nine centuries. They were costly in terms of men, but the defeat inflicted on the Germans was one of the largest of the war. Strategically, the campaign led to the loss of the German position in most of France and the secure establishment of a major new front.

D-day was fought in 1944 between Nazi Germany in Western Europe and the invading Allied forces as part of the larger conflict of World War II. Over sixty years later, the Normandy invasion, codenamed Operation Overlord, still remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to Normandy in then German-occupied France.

The primary Allied formations that saw combat in Normandy came from the United States of America, United Kingdom and Canada. Substantial Free French and Polish forces also participated in the battle after the assault phase, and there were also contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway

On the opposing side, Nazi Germany.

The Allied invasion plans had called for the capture of Carentan, St. Lô, Caen and Bayeux on the first day, with all the beaches linked except Utah, and Sword (the last linked with paratroopers) and a front line six to ten miles (10 to 16 km) from the beaches.

Answer 3

First of all "DDay" is a generic term for the start of any WW2 military operation. Most folks, and historians use the term "Overlord". However, the Allied planners knew that eventually that word would be compromised (it was, the Germans figured it out), it was changed to mean general operations in NW France. The actual invasion was codenamed "Neptune" The planning goes back to 1942, when the Combined Chiefs of Staff authorized a small staff to begin looking at a possible operation in 1943.
It was Field Marshal Montgomery, who after reviewing the plan, realized that it was too small to achieve a decisive result, namely maintaining a beachhead. He expanded the forces involved, and insisted on more air assets assigned directly to Neptune support. The senior air commanders refused to release "strategic" bombers for attacks on the German transportation and command network. It took the personal direct order of Gen Eisenhower to make that part of the plan happen.
"DDay" in this context refers to the operations during the twenty four hours from about 0100 6 June until 0100 7 June. The timing of the actual op was driven by a (potentially fatal) compromise between the need for visibility for naval gunfire, and air support, plus the British insistence on tactical surprise. Also, tides were critical to ensure that the obstacles on the beach were exposed, and to run the landing craft right up to the beach.
There were only a few days each month that met the criteria. Originally, the op was planned for May 1944, but for logistics and operations reasons it had to be canceled.
The next available day was 5 June. The op was laid on for that date, with transports loaded, troops briefed etc. However lousy weather- a not unusual circumstance in N Europe- forced a 24 postponement.
The operational plan was for airborne troops to land behind the invasion beaches to block German reinforcements, and seize important crossroads and bridges. Aircraft would commence attacks on German positions about HHour - 90min. (This was about an hour before twilight.) The invasion force would begin bombardment about 1 hour prior to the first wave of troops landing. It turns out that neither the aerial, nor the naval bombardment was really effective. Bad weather, and bad tactics precluded the aerial assets from performing-and the ships assigned to bombardment were inadequate for the mission.
The invasion forces were to land on 5 beaches:
- "Utah" the target of the US 4th Inf Div
- "Omaha", 29th Inf Div
- "Gold" British forces
- "Juno" Canadians
- "Sword" combined British, French, and Poles
These run roughly down the coast of Cherbourg France east towards Caen.
The forces slated to hit Utah, actually landed about four miles from their target. They encountered relatively minor resistance and exceeded their first day's objectives.
Omaha was a near disaster, a new infantry division the 352nd, had recently been transferred from Russia, replacing the ineffective coastal division that Allied intelligence believed was there. Also, none of the targets assigned for aerial and naval attack was hit.
The British beaches encountered some determined resistance, but were overall able to achieve their first day objectives.
This operation has achieved almost mythic importance in Western popular imagination, and popular history. While it was crucial to getting the Western Allies back in Europe, most people don't realize that the Russians were facing 80% of the German Army. Also, in Italy, Rome fell the same day.

Answer 4

DDAY was one of the single most important military campaigns in the entire war. allied that is.
it happened after the allies decided that America needed to become part of the ground war in Europe.
the dday landings involved all the major armies in the war EXC.Russia. it had The Americans, British, and Canadians. the Major players.
it happened on three different beaches, but is just most well known as the Invasion of Normandy which is where it happened.