How many of us actually know what D-day is? It usually means a date on which something is intended or scheduled. But if we go turn the pages of the world history, it implies the date June 6, 1944, when Normandy, France was invaded by Allied forces to liberate it from Nazi Germany. It is by far the most popular and best known D-day. There exist a lot of mysteries still left to be unfolded about the Normandy Invasion. We all know Second World War which lasted from the date 1939 to 1945. During this period of war, an effort was made by the Allied forces to liberate Mainland Europe from Nazi activities. This till date is popularly believed to be the largest invasion to have taken place.
The allies were the groups of countries which belonged to the allied powers of the First World War and Second World War, namely- United Kingdom, Canada, US, Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland. The allies practiced their roles in the invasion over and over again to keep them prepared for it beforehand. There were quite a few leaks about the invasion too. But those were not significant because fake rumors were sent in order to keep this invasion a mystical. In spite of all these, the Normandy invasion began with speedy and tremendous air attacks, naval warfare and armed struggles. We present you the top 10 D-day facts.
10. Initially scheduled for June 5, 1944
The Normandy Invasion happened on the June 6, 1944. But was it actually scheduled for the very day? – It wasn’t! The largest invasion that took place in the history of the world was previously planned for the precedent day. All preparations and plans were made for June 5, 1944 to trigger the invasion of Normandy. But the weather didn’t seem to be in the favor of this decision. Due to bad weather conditions, the invasion had to be kept on hold. Only after the meteorologists predicted that the weather would be fine the very next day, they finally carried out the invasion.
9. Hitler was asleep
Normandy invasion was a sign of an end to Nazis and most importantly Hitler. North Africa was set free; English watercourse no longer contained Nazi submarines. The soviet troop was beginning to retrieve its empire. The Nazis had no idea about the Allied groups invading Normandy. Over that, Normandy was outside chance of being invaded. Had they known about the invasion, they could have made preparations for the attack resulting in the failure of the Normandy invasion. One thing that startles me is that Hitler is said to have been asleep when the troops landed. He is believed to take sleeping pills. No one had the guts the wake him up. And, who would dare to make preparations for the attack without his stamp of approval? This led to the loss of time which could have been used by the Nazis to prepare themselves for the attack.
8. D-day and numbers
D-day involves a lot of numbers and figures. Let’s begin with the lives it took. There were a total of around 110,000 deaths from this invasion- including both the Nazi deaths and the Allied group death. 77,866 Germans, 5001 Canadians, 9389 Americans, 17,770 Englishmen had to lose their lives. The invasion of Normandy cost a sum of lives. Over 30,000 vehicles, 150,000 troops and 13,000 paratroopers were transported to the French beaches. Talking about the planes, more than 127 of them got lost by the end of the battle. America delivered 7 million tons of materials. Normandy battle cost the life of more than 28,000 airmen. The number of soldiers, airmen and sailors who were the part of in the campaign was about 2 million. More than 30,000 bombs were dropped in the invasion are. 5,000 tons of gasoline was assumed for the invasion days. We can imagine the Normandy Invasion with relation to the number of deaths, people involved, data and figures about it.