The Battle And Liberation Of France From Nazi Germany

The Germans had landmines set up along the Atlantic Wall, which was located on the northern coast. By January 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower was chosen to be commander of Operation Overlord, which was the operation the French was going to use to attack the Germans. The French's plan was to make the Germans think that they were going to attack Pas-de-Calais, which is the narrowest point

D-Day. Operation Overlord. The Battle of Normandy. The Longest Day. This invasion is known by a lot names but they all mean the same thing: the invasion of the beaches code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. This attack happened on on June 6, 1944 and was one of the most important battles in World War II. D-Day is the military code for the day on which a particular military operation is set to begin.During World War II, it was the day (June 6, 1944) on which the Allied forces of Britain, Canada, and the United States invaded the Normandy coast of German-occupied France. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the invasion, and all the preparations leading up to it, was the most massive amphibious assault in military history. Over 160,000 troops landing in the beaches of Normandy, plus over 195,000 people in the ships and planes that carried them. The amphibious invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and Canadians overcame

According to Lt. Col Bishop “Doolittle’s success in achieving operational effectiveness demonstrates the utility of his aggressive, yet mature, command and demeanor.” Operation Overlord was the name given to the allied operation to invade France and take it back from the Germans. The operational objective for General Doolittle’s Eighth Army was to control the skies before the invasion occurred because if the allies had control of the skies the ground troops would not have to worry about air attacks. General Doolittle was able to accomplish this operational victory through his leadership and aggressiveness. Watson Jr. writes that Doolittle in preparation for the invasion of France he decided to target above 50 airfields, and over 10 bridges which led to the Luftwaffe moving to airfields much farther from the coast thus allowing for the successful invasion of

The Allies rallied an offensive for the liberation of France in late September 1915. This resulted in a stalemate between the powers, inflicting heavy casualties on the Allied and Central Powers. This fierce battling with no progression continued into late 1916, when the Germans became concerned at the amount of the allied forces on the western front and the invention of the tank - technology that Germany

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also know as the 100 Days Offensive, was the part of the grand Allied offensive in 1918 at the end of WW1. This battle involved 1.2 million American soldiers. The American’s objective was to break through the Hindenburg Line, which covered the length of the entire western front. The offensive consisted of a three-sided attack on the German’s Western Front. The BEF and the French Army were to engage the German lines at Flanders, while the British forces would take on the German troops at Cambrai. The American Expeditionary Forces numdering 400,000 men under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing, and the French Fourth Army under General Henri Gouraud’s role was the eastern most pincer of the multinational endeavor, the Argonne forest. The forest presented Gen. Pershing and his men some difficult challenges they were forced to overcome.

"On June 6, 1944, under the code name Operation "Overlord," US, British, and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, on the English Channel coast east of Cherbourg and west of Le Havre." (“D-Day” The Germans thought that the invasion would take place along the north coast of France. But none of them did not know where. They expected that it would be by the English channel. So, they built up multiple arms (guns), artillery and troops by the narrowest side. There was a place called a Quadrant Conference, where the Americans and other Allies like the British chiefs when the Operation Overlord was happening.

After the U.S. began to push out the Germans and enlarge the pathway to Bastogne at the end of December 1944, the U.S. troops and some British soldiers started a counterattack, to eliminate the bulge in the American line. This success was largely due to General Patton’s third army, that attacked from the North and the South. On January 8, 1945, the German forces began to pull out of the Bulge. As the Americans advanced, they continued to erase all German gains. By the end of January, 1945, all territory that was captured by the Germans was back under Allied control (“Battle of the Bulge”). The Battle of the bulge was one of the most difficult battles of the war for the United States. Along with having the most American casualties of any other battle, many of the soldiers suffered great emotional and physical trauma from the cold, and lack of medical supplies, and the horrors that many of them witnessed on the battlefield (Farmer). One battalion, the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion, is a notable example of the physical and emotional trauma of the Battle of the Bulge. At the start of the battle the battalion had 793 men. By the end, only 110 were left alive. The 551st was the worst casualties of any unit during the Battle of the Bulge (Orfalea). Nearing the end of the battle, the allied troops fought harder than ever, partly to ensure that all of the bloodshed and death was not in vain.

Five years after the world war started, Operation Overlord occurred on June 6, 1944. The seaborne invasion was the biggest one in history, and was a defining moment in WWII. A tremendous military force came from the United Kingdom and made their way towards France, in an effort to overthrow Nazi Germany and its leader, Adolf Hitler, who had taken control over the majority of Europe. The intense planning and precision of the plan transferred the momentum to the Allies.

Operation Overlord is one of the largest military operations of the war, employing "over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes, and over 150,000 servicemen," leading to "nearly 10,000 casualties," and over 4,000 deaths ("World War II," 2013). The invasion of Normandy led to the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation. The victory of the allies against the Germans marked the beginning of the end for Hitler's

With a strong backup, the Allied troops were able to advance through the enemy-occupied countries with lightening speed. Therefore, the attack not only led to the French people’s freedom, but also to the quick downfall of Nazi Germany. (Naval History and Heritage- D-Day, the Normandy Invasion, 6 - 25 June 1944)

One of the more famous battles in the war was the Invasion of Normandy, France by the Allied forces, also known as “Operation Overlord”. The arriving troops came ashore to heavy gun fire that wiped out a good portion of the soldiers that

After France was conquered by the Germans in 1940, the British began planning a landing on the German shore in Normandy (Reid). When the Americans entered the war not too long after this and the British realized they would be able to plan a stronger, more effective invasion by planning a join invasion with the Americans to make an alliance with the Americans to invade the Germans (Reid). General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (Reid). In December, 1944 he ordered a bombing crusade to attack transportation throughout France. Because of the immense number of troops and supplies it was a disadvantage to use regular ships, therefore, the Allies built specialized landing ship tanks (Reid). All of the construction of new technology took longer than

The first troops deployed into battle were paratroopers. Over thirteen thousand U.S. paratroopers were dropped by an armada of C-47s behind German lines before dawn. Their mission was to seize bridges, disrupt communications, and prevent German soldiers from reinforcing the Normandy beaches as the Allied assault hit the coastline (Alberecht). Heavy cloud coverage made for difficult navigation and forced many of the paratroopers to jump “blind”. This resulted in them being scattered over a 100-square mile radius. Thirty-five percent of these soldiers landed at their designated drop point, while many others died when they landed in fields flooded by the Germans. Despite all of this, the remaining troops were able to secure their intended positions (Dry).

The decision to enter into war is usually a great struggle involving many factors. Some countries, however, such as France in 1940, do not have much choice in the matter. France’s leaders struggled with the feelings of autonomy and responsibility. France's struggle entering into World War II was in the difficulty in fulfilling its dual responsibility to the people of France and to the rest of the world whom both maintained conflicting beliefs about the approaching war. The French people desired peace, while the other countries required France to go to war to defend itself against

The French Resistance was a collection of resistance groups that fought against Nazi Germany and its puppet state of Vichy France. They were mainly comprised of men and women who fought the Nazis through sabotage, ambushes, and hit-and-run tactics; disrupting power grids, transport lines, and telecommunications. In addition to guerilla warfare, they also published underground newspapers, collected intelligence, and helped Allied soldiers trapped behind enemy lines to escape. Furthermore, they also played a large role in Operation Overlord (invasion of northern France) and Operation Dragoon (invasion of southern France) by providing the Allies with locations of Nazi fortifications and defenses. The French Resistance was extremely crucial to winning World War II and saving the lives of Allied soldiers.