Omar Bradley

Commands the US First Army during Operation Overlord

Commands the US First Army during Operation Overlord

The HQ for the 1st US Army opens in England

Arrives in England to take command of the First Army

3 Airbourne Divisions land behind enemy lines at St Mere-Eglise & Caen

Lands the 2nd British Army from the river Orme to St-Vaast-La-Hogue

The US Army succesfully captrures Omah & Utah beaches

Omar Bradleys intention was to take advantage of the German preoccupation with British and Canadian activity around the town of Caen, and punch through the German defenses penning in his troops while his opponent was distracted and unbalanced

Commands paratroopers who land on the eastern side of the Cotentin Peninsular only

The US 5th Corps capture Isigny on the way to uniting the Utah & Omaha

The Cotentin Peninsular is sealed isolating 4 German Divisions & the port of Cherbourg. The Americans capture Barneville

An attack of St Lo is launched but is slowed down by the Normandy countryside, bocage

The US forces arrive at the hills overlooking Cherbourg

The US Army captures the Fort du Roule, the key to the defences of Cherbourg

Cherbourg falls to the Allies

To gain good terrain for Operation Cobra, Bradley and Collins conceived a plan to push forward to the Saint-L“-Periers road, along which VII and VIII Corps were securing jumping-off positions. The American 29th and 35th Infantry Divisions managed to gain the vital heights of Saint-Lo, driving back General der Fallschirmtruppen Eugen Meindls II Parachute Corps

Forced to postpone Operation Cobra due to heavy rainfall

Operation Cobra is postponed for a 2nd time

Gives the go ahead for Operation Cobra

After the one-day postponement, Cobra got underway at 09:38 on 25 July, when around 600 Allied fighter-bombers attacked strongpoints and enemy artillery along a 300 yd (270 m)-wide strip of ground located in the St. Lo area

2,500 bombers from the Eighth & 9th Air Forces open a gap west of St Lo

Pushes Patton through a gap in the German defence toward Avranches

By 28 July, the German defenses across the US front had largely collapsed under the full weight of VII and VIII Corps advance, and resistance was disorganised and patchy

Orders Patton to clear Brittany with a "minimum forces"

Authorizes Patton to outflank the Germans at Caen

Authorizes Patton to turn into the Orleans gap toward the Seine & Paris

The town of Falaise becomes a major objective of Commonwealth forces, since its capture would cut off virtually all of Generalfeldmarschall Gunther von Kluges Army Group B

Operation Luttich had been defeated by concerted, large-scale fighter-bomber air strikes against the German Panzers and trucks & in the process, forces of the German 7th Army became further enveloped by the Allied advance out of Normandy

The town of Falaise becomes a major objective of Commonwealth forces, since its capture would cut off virtually all of Generalfeldmarschall Gunther von Kluges Army Group B

Orders Patton to Le Mans & the British to Falaise. Launched by Bradley to totally defeat the Germans in Normandy

Troops of the newly activated 3rd United States Army captured the city of Le Mans, formerly the German 7th Armys headquarters

Orders Patton to create a "short hook" from Le Mans to Falaise to trap the Germans

Poles & Americans seal the Falaise pocket officially ending the Normandy Campaign

Poles & Americans seal the Falaise pocket officially ending the Normandy Campaign

Operation Cobra, together with concurrent offensives by the Second British and First Canadian Armies, was decisive in securing an Allied victory in the Normandy Campaign