D-Day

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D-Day is a day that should never be forgotten in American History. It occurred on June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France. The battle was fought between the Allies and the Germans. The Allies consisted of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Free France. The Axis which made up Germany, Italy, Japan. Over 130,000 troops landed on the shores of France on D-Day, and 195,700 merchant ships were involved. The battle ended with a German retreat, and it was an Allied victory.

**Before D-Day**
Befroe the U.S. went to battle they needed to be prepared. While the men were training the women would work on ships, planes, anything the U.S. needed to fight the battle against Germany. At the training men would cry and be sacred about what they are about to face. The leader of the operation was Dwight Eisenhower. Now they were ready to fight.

The Day of the Battle
 On June 6, 1944, 2,727 ships sailed to the Normandy coast and on the first day landed 156,000 men on a front of thirty miles. It was the largest and most powerful armada that has ever sailed. The Allies also used three airborne divisions, two American and one British. Of the 23,000 airborne troops, 15,500 were Americans, 6,000 were killed.  The Allied invasion was faced by 50 divisions of the German Army under General Erwin Rommel.  Canada used 110 ships, 14,000 troops, including paratroopers. 


Omaha was the most fortified out of all of the beaches. With steep cliffs, defended by funneled mortars, machine guns, artillery, and the Germans. Omaha beach had the most deaths and casualities. 3,000 of the 34,000 men died at Omaha Beach as with the Utah Beach 197 of 23,000 troops died. Utah had the least amount of deaths out of all of the beaches.


 * Sword, Gold, and Juno Beach**The attack on Sword, Gold and Juno beach, were some of the last beaches to be attacked. These beaches were mostly attacked by the british and the canadians. The deaths were very high. On Juno beach it was about 500- 700 people died. At Sword beach the deaths were very low like Utah beach. As with Gold beach the deaths were quite high.

** American Airborne Landings **
This was the first time the U.S. used the Airborne. The men were paid more than the army and the navy. On D-day they were scattered and it was an almost complete fail. 2,600 airborne men including British died at D-Day.While they were in the air with guns shooting at them or they would get stuck in a tree and be shot by the enemy. They dropped thousands of men from planes that were hundreds of feet in the air. It was almost a complete failure to use the airborne.

War Memorials
Today at Normandy the strreets near the beaches are named after the units that fought there. There are plaques, memorials, and small museums. There is even a dummy paratrooper hanging from a church spire. The American cemetery Colleville- sur- Mer contains row after row of idenical white crosses and Stars of David. There are now bed and breakfast establishments and indeed, the Normandy beaches have become a major tourist spot. I have visited there. I felt incredible emotions as I looked at this hallowed ground. Seeing with my own eyes the fox holes, crater holes, and docks made me reflect on the thousands who died, men who were just a little older than me, to save the world from Hitler.

Resources
Normandy landings, http://en.wiikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day Images, http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&fkt=3058&fsdt=&q=d-day&aqi=g10&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi Garraty, John A., The Story of America. Holt, rinehart and Winston, Austin, Texas. 1994. Personal pictures