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The Invasion Of Normandy (D-Day)

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The Invasion Of Normandy (D-Day)
Ben Belcher March 19, 2013 Period 4
Invasion of Normandy (D-Day) On June 6th, 1944 the Allied forces of the British, Canadian¸ and the United States led an invasion of Normandy against the German Nazis occupying France. This day is very significant because it wasn’t just a physical loss of soldiers but a psychological blow against the Nazis. The Allies began to gain ground they lost to Germany. Also it prevented Hitler from sending troops from France to help defend from the advancing Soviets. The invasion of Normandy, France wasn’t just a few battles over one day it changed the tides of World War II. The Allied forces didn’t just sail in and take over the beaches of Normandy it took much planning and preparation. Eisenhower was appointed the commander of this large scale mission. Months before D-Day the Allies carried out a massive deception operation to make the Germans think the invasion was going to occur somewhere else. To pull off this feat the used fake equipment, a phantom army, double agents, and radio transmissions that weren’t real. Hitler hearing about a possible invasion ordered the completion of the Atlantic Wall, 2,400 miles of bunkers, landmines, and obstacles on the beaches.
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At that point in time paratroopers were already behind enemy lines securing bridges. The British and the Canadians captured three beaches codenamed Gold, Juno, and Sword. They captured these beaches with very little opposition from Nazi Germany. The U.S also captured Utah beach easily by overcoming little opposition. Although on the 5th and final beach the U.S. faced heavy resistance from the Nazis. With all of the Nazi bunkers and landmines the final beach was hard to capture and resulted in over 2,000 U.S. casualties. At the end of the day about 156,000 allied troops successfully landed on Normandy’s beaches. Around 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives and many more were missing or

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