1944 15th May
Operation Overlord
The US will invade Utah & Omaha beaches, the British Gold & Juno & the Canadians Sword
D-Day and Normandy · permanent subject timeline
Sword Beach
The easternmost seaborne landing sector on D-Day. This page combines historical context with 4 matching records drawn directly from the World History Database Normandy archive.
Historical context
Sword Beach: overview and significance
What happened?
British forces landed at Sword Beach with the objective of advancing toward Caen and linking with airborne troops holding the Orne crossings. German resistance and counter-attacks slowed the inland advance.
Why was it important?
Sword was crucial to the eastern flank of the invasion. Its connection with the airborne bridgehead helped protect the beachhead from German armoured counter-attacks.
World History Database records
Sword Beach timeline
The records below are selected from the 455-record D-Day and Normandy archive and rendered as static HTML in chronological order.
1944
1944 6th June
Operation Overlord
On Sword Beach the regular British infantry came ashore with light casualties they advance about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) by the end of the day but failed to make some of the deliberately ambitious targets set by Montgomery in particular
1944 6th June
Operation Overlord
Parachutes behind enemy lines disabling gun emplacements threatening Sword Beach
1944 6th June
Operation Overlord
Rennie's division landed on Sword Beach with orders to advance rapidly toward Caen.
Editorial provenance
Sources and editorial review
Compiled and edited by World History Database.
Historical context is editorial material; the chronology is generated from World History Database D-Day and Normandy records.
Last reviewed: September 2026.
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