O Day D, which took place on June 6, 1944, was the biggest war operation in history and combined several military forces. This operation was a major effort promoted by the United States and United Kingdom (Allies) to create a new front of struggle against Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Known as Operation Overlord, D-Day resulted in the conquest of part of Normandy, in Northern France.
Read too: 5 facts about WWII
D-Day Historical Background
In 1944, The Germany accumulated successive defeats in the war. That initial phase full of overwhelming victories of the German army over its opponents had ended with defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad. Since then, German military forces were being pushed back to Germany by the Red Army.
In addition to the defeats in the front In the eastern part of the war, Germany faced a major problem with the landings of Allied troops in southern Italy. British and American pressure in Italy and weak Italian resistance had forced Hitler to withdraw his troops from the front oriental, which cost you a heavy defeat in Battle of Kursk.
hitler he knew that in 1944 it was vital to repel a likely Allied attack off the coast of France. With that, he would be able to strengthen the front east and thus prevent its troops from being swallowed up by the force of the Red Army. Hitler's hope contrasted with the dismay of the German generals who found it very difficult to contain an Allied attack in a new front of war.
Preparations for D-Day
THE recapture of Normandy was considered fundamental by the Allies, as it would allow, first, to force Germany to fight in a new front of war, what would increase german wear. Furthermore, reconquering this region meant the beginning of a war effort intended to free the France of Nazi rule.
However, despite its strategic status, the Normandy reconquest operation (called Operation Overlord) was seen with distrust by many of those involved in the war. The great carnage that took place during the Allied landings in Italy had raised some fear in Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, about the new operation.
Furthermore, many of the soldiers mobilized for this operation had fought hard in the battles north of the Africa and in positions of the Mediterranean Sea, and did not agree with the new summons. The dissatisfaction stemmed from the fact that the American and British armies had thousands of soldiers who had not yet been sent to the front.
Despite this distrust, mainly from the British, the operation took place, mainly because of the pressure exerted by the U.S. The planning of D-Day had been going on since 1943 and its execution, in 1944, happened at the ideal moment, because combined the strengthening of the Allies with the visible weakening of the Axis.
D-Day is seen by many as the fact that defined the fate of WWII, however, this view is rejected by many historians who claim that D-Day only anticipated the defeat of the noAzism, but did not start it. Until that moment, the great war effort in the fight against the Germans had been carried out by the Soviet Union in crucial battles in Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk etc. German wear in the front Eastern, allied with weakening in North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea, led Nazism to defeat in the war.
Read too: Invasion of France by the Nazis
Day D
According to a survey by historian Max Hastings, D-Day mobilized 5,300 ships, which transported 150 thousand men and 1500 tanksto Normandy. Furthermore, 12 thousand aircraft were used that day, many of them used by paratroopers who landed in different parts of the region|1|.
The attack on Normandy began with divisions of paratroopers jumping into different positions on June 5th. This landing was considered chaotic by experts in military tactics, however, it managed to fulfill your objective by conquering some bridges and confusing part of the Nazi troops positioned in the region.
Hitler's hope was placed on the call Atlantic wall, an extended line of defense on the coast of Atlantic Ocean and built with the aim of stopping a possible Allied invasion. However, historian Antony Beevor claims that the Atlantic Wall was more a Nazi bluff than a reality.|2|.
Allied attacks were concentrated on five beaches in Normandy, located near the city of Caen. The beaches were named Omaha, Utah, Juno, Gold and Sword. Allied soldiers met fierce resistance from the Germans., and reports tell of one of the toughest battles in the war. Historian Max Hastings brings the following account of a soldier who participated in this fight|3|:
There were men crying with fear, men who were smearing. I lay down with a few others, too petrified to move. Nobody did more than lie there. It was a collective paralysis. I didn't see any officers. At one point, something hit my arm. I thought it was a bullet. It was someone's hand, severed by something. It was more than he could handle.
The Germans' defense strategy was seen, in part, to be wrong, but the lack of air support was more crucial to the defeat. By the end of the day, the beaches of Normandy had been conquered by the Allies, and the death toll was relatively low compared to the importance of the achievement. Hastings claims about 3000 Allied soldiers (among British, Americans and Canadians) died during D-Day.
Those who suffered most from the Allied attack were French civilians who saw many innocents die during the bombings. In addition, the Allied advance into Normandy initiated a series of looting against the population of French cities. From D-Day onwards, the Allies, led by Eisenhower, began a slow reconquest of the region and a slow march towards Berlin. German fate was sealed.
Grades
|1|HASTINGS, Max. Hell: the world at war 1939-1945. Rio de Janeiro: Intrinsic, 2012, p. 553.
|2|BEEVOR, Antony. The Second World War. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2015, p. 639.
|3| HASTINGS, Max. Hell: the world at war 1939-1945. Rio de Janeiro: Intrinsic, 2012, p. 554.
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
