Normandy Landings

Also called: D-Day, Operation Overlord

Allied forces under Eisenhower landed on the coast of Normandy, opening a western front; Paris was liberated in August.

The Soviet Union had long demanded a second front in western Europe. On 6 June 1944 (D-Day) more than 150,000 American, British, Canadian and other Allied troops, backed by thousands of ships and aircraft, came ashore on five Normandy beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword), while airborne troops dropped inland overnight. Losses were heaviest on Omaha Beach.

Having widened the beachhead, the Allies broke through the German lines in late July, and Paris was liberated on 25 August. Squeezed between the Soviets in the east and the Allies in the west, Germany collapsed the following spring.