How Operation Overlord Impacted World War II

While many know D-Day as the largest amphibious invasion in history, they do not know how important the invasion was in the war. The operation was kept a secret to everyone except those who were in it. The Germans did not know until the very last moment that the Allies landed. By catching the Germans off guard this helped the operation succeed. The other main reason is because the Allies majorly outnumbered the Germans. Operation Overlord impacted World War II greatly because it was the turning point that ended the war in Europe. In August of 1943, American and British military chiefs met and began to outline Operation Overlord. British officials began to plan to land on enemy shores as early as 1940. They did not bring this idea to the attention
of the United States until May of 1943. A raid on the French port of Dieppe, which resulted in heavy losses, convinced the Allies to land on beaches (card 2-4). General Dwight Eisenhower was the commander of the D-Day operation. He had originally chosen June 5th as the day of the operation, but this did not happen due to the weather (card 1-6). A year prior to the D-Day invasion, the Germans suspected there would be an attack along the beaches of France. As a result, the Germans fortified the 2,400-mile beach head in an attempt to hold Europe. In the days prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted large-scale deception campaigns to mislead the Germans, and it succeeded. These acts of deception led the German defenses to be flustered when the Allies attacked. Moreover, the British favored to land in Normandy, because it had weaker defenses. Subsequently, it could be cut off from the rest of Europe by the bombing of bridges (card 4-10). The code names of the five beaches were Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The Allies received the most resistance at Omaha beach. The Germans subsequently surrendered due to a lack of ammunition and the overwhelming number of Allied troops landing on the beaches. Consequently, less than a week later, the beaches were fully secure with more than 326,000 troops landing there. Consequently, due to the losses they suffered, the Germans choose to either surrender or retreat. The Germans suffered over 21,500 casualties during the Normandy campaign (card 3-9). There were more than 4,000 Allied casualties on D-Day. Only 2,000 of the Casualties were American soldiers. The British suffered 4,868 casualties through the entire Normandy campaign. The Canadians suffered 946 casualties during the Normandy campaign. More than 5,000 ships and 11,000 aircraft were used during the D-Day invasion. The United States shipped seven million tons of supplies to aid the invasion. Ammunition accounted for 448,000 tons of the supplies sent to the attackers on the front. The Allies lost 127 aircraft on the day of the invasion. When the Normandy campaign ended, the Allies had suffered 28,000 airmen casualties. The Germans stationed over 55 divisions of troops in Normandy. The Allies were only able to land eight divisions on the beaches during the invasion. The Allies used the landing at Normandy as a command post to launch future attacks on the German defenses. Therefore, allowing the allies to close in on Germany, forcing the Germans to surrender after a short year. The Allies prioritized capturing or destroying bridges. This allowed them to cut off German supply lines. German reinforcement routes were also cut off due to the bridges being taken. It took the German reinforcements two weeks to reach the front. With the Americans and British attracting attention of the German Army, the Russian forces conducted an attack from the east while the German defenses were thin. Approximately 2,000 Allied artillery guns opened up fire on the German defenses. The Russian army launched an assault with over 1.2 million troops. Therefore, the German 3rd Panzer army experienced heavy losses. By June 30, 1944 the German army had already suffered over 200,000 casualties from the Soviet attack. The German 4th Army alone lost 130,000 troops by July 4th. German losses totaled 400,000, from the Soviet attacks in the east. On July 17th, all German troops officially existed Russia subsequently the Soviet capital of Moscow celebrated. Approximately 57,000 German captives paraded through the streets during the celebrations. Next, the U.S. Army took control of the town of St. Lo, allowing them to launch larger attacks towards inland France. On July 26th the Polish government communicated with the British government to help stage an uprising within Poland. The British government sent scattered air drops of weapons and supplies to the Polish people.
The Soviet army began to close in on and surround German defenses at the Polish capital of Warsaw.
About 30,000 Polish people made up the beginning of the Warsaw uprising. Three Soviet Army divisions moved in on the outskirts of Warsaw, leading Polish General Komorowski to green light the uprising. After hearing the news of the uprising, Hitler swore punishment and sent more troops to the capital. The Pope himself appealed to the Allies for help after sensing Warsaw may be destroyed. On August 20th, the Germans managed to split the Polish resistance into three distinct groups. There were now over 21,300 German troops holding the Polish capital of Warsaw. Next, on August 22nd, after an additional 10,000 German troops were killed, the Allies officially cleared Normandy of all German troops. Some 50,000 German troops were also taken prisoner after this final attack. On October 3rd, the Polish rebels surrendered to the overpowering German forces. The Germans punished the Polish people by sending 250,000 civilians to be executed or to Nazi concentration camps. The Germans lost 3,500 infantrymen and 400 vehicles to the Allies on Christmas day. On January 17th, the Soviet Army finally pushed through Poland, and officially captured Warsaw. Next, the Soviet army entered Germany on February 5th. On February 13th, 800 Royal Air force bombers killed up to 130,000 inhabitants. The bombing also destroyed the city of Dresden. The Soviet front was only fifty miles from Berlin by March 31st. The Soviet army began the bombardment of Berlin on April 16th. This was the signal for the Allied armies to begin their final march towards the German capital. On April 20th, Hitler celebrated his 56th and final birthday, unaware that it would be his last. Hitler knew the Allies would soon storm the Nazi capital and capture the remaining Nazi leaders. So he ordered all of his generals and advisors to commit suicide and murder their families along with them. The Nazi leaders went on to kill all
of their family members and commit suicide with them as ordered. Although, some of the Nazi leaders fled the country and went into hiding because they could not bring themselves to commit suicide. Hitler himself poisoned his dog and his wife before he shot himself in the head because he did not want to be captured by the Allies. He believed surrendering or being captured was a sign of weakness and he did not think of himself as weak. Immediately after his death, his remaining Nazi followers incinerated the bodies of he and his wife in front of the capital building as ordered. On May 8th, the fall of Berlin was officially complete and the Germans surrendered. In conclusion, D-Day impacted World War II greatly because it was the turning point that ended the war in Europe. D-Day was the gateway for the Allies to make a push to Berlin. Although the Germans did not know it, the Normandy invasion was the beginning of the end of the war for them.

Works Cited
“World War II D Day.” Www.history.com, National Geographic, 2018, www.history.com/topics/world+war+ii+d+day. “D-Day Fast Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 30 May 2017, www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/europe/d-day-fast-facts/index.html “D Day: the Sixth of June, 1944, by David R. Howarth, McGraw-Hill Book, 1959, pp. 1–3.
“D-Day: the Battle for Normandy.” D-Day: the Battle for Normandy, by Antony Beevor, Viking, 2009, pp. 2–4.