D day why it happened

D-Day was a day that cost many lives on all sides of the conflict, changing not only the future of countries, but of families as well. Because of that, there is much to be learned from those who experienced its victories and its horrors firsthand. Do you have D-Day veterans in your family? Record a memory or upload a photo to help preserve their legacy. FamilySearch Blog. About FamilySearch. Hide Caption. Four Americans show off their shaved heads, which spell out the word "hell," a few hours before arriving on the beaches of France.

US troops wait to disembark a landing craft on D-Day. The Allies went to elaborate lengths to maintain secrecy and mislead Adolf Hitler.

They employed double agents and used decoy tanks and phony bases in England to hide actual troop movements. US paratroopers fix their static lines before a jump over Normandy on D-Day. US troops huddle behind the protective front of their landing craft as it nears a beachhead in France. Smoke in the background is naval gunfire giving cover to troops on land.

Germans rained mortars and artillery down on Allied troops, killing many before they could even get out of their boats. Fighting was especially fierce at Omaha Beach, where Nazi fighters nearly wiped out the first wave of invading forces and left the survivors struggling for cover.

Tank landing ships, each towing a protective barrage balloon, leave the English coast carrying supplies to the French beachhead. US troops and vehicles are ready to disembark. US Gen. Dwight D. Image: Eisenhower Presidential Library. In the meantime, they prepared ceaselessly for the attack. Trucks, tanks, and tens of thousands of troops poured into England. But on the morning of June 4, foul weather over the English Channel forced Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours. The delay was unnerving for soldiers, sailors, and airmen, but when meteorologists forecast a brief window of clearer weather over the channel on June 6, Eisenhower made the decision to go.

It was one of the gutsiest decisions of the war. Just after midnight on June 6, Allied airborne troops began dropping behind enemy lines. Their job was to blow up bridges, sabotage railroad lines, and take other measures to prevent the enemy from rushing reinforcements to the invasion beaches.

Hours later, the largest amphibious landing force ever assembled began moving through the storm-tossed waters toward the beaches. Most of the Americans were packed into flat-bottomed Higgins boats launched from troop transports 10 miles from the French coastline. Vomit filled the bottom of the boats, and as water kept rushing in over the gunwales, the green-faced men had to bail this vile stew with their helmets.

Though it was cold, the men were sweating. See the Visit pages for further information. It was the largest invasion ever assembled, before or since, landed , Allied troops by sea and air on five beachheads in Normandy, France.

We hope that you will visit The D-Day Story to find out more about it. When a military operation is being planned, its actual date and time is not always known. This meant that if the date changed all other dates in the plan did not have to be corrected.

In fact, it does not stand for anything. On D-Day, the Allies landed around , troops in Normandy. On D-Day 11, Allied aircraft were available to support the landings.