Historical overview
From Overlord planning to the liberation of Normandy
The archive follows the invasion from Allied planning in 1943 through the landings of 6 June 1944, the battles around Caen and Cherbourg, the American breakout and the closing of the Falaise Pocket.
Planning Operation Overlord
Allied leaders agreed on a cross-Channel invasion and developed the COSSAC plan before Eisenhower and Montgomery expanded the assault. The final scheme combined five seaborne landing beaches with airborne operations on both flanks.
Airborne and naval assault
Before the main landings, airborne forces seized bridges, road junctions and defensive positions behind the coast. Operation Neptune carried the invasion fleet across the Channel and provided naval bombardment, minesweeping and landing craft.
The five assault beaches
American forces landed at Utah and Omaha, British troops at Gold and Sword, and Canadians at Juno. Resistance, terrain and casualties differed sharply between sectors, but by the end of D-Day the Allies had established a viable foothold.
Cherbourg and the battle for Caen
American forces drove into the Cotentin Peninsula and captured Cherbourg while British and Canadian armies fought a prolonged series of operations around Caen against major German armoured formations.
Breakout from the bocage
Operation Cobra broke through the German front west of Saint-Lô in late July. The American advance then accelerated into open country while British and Canadian operations maintained pressure farther east.
Falaise and the end of the campaign
In August Allied armies converged around Falaise, Argentan and Chambois. German formations escaped through a narrowing corridor, but large numbers of troops and vehicles were destroyed or captured as the Normandy front collapsed.
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