Operation Overlord gets underway
On 6 June 1944, the coast of Normandy bore witness to an incredible sight as around 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces stormed five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of French coastline. As droves of Allied soldiers splashed out of landing crafts and made their way across the sand, facing enemy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches and at the mercy of mines, barbed wire and other deadly obstacles that littered the ground before them, they could only hope and pray that their sacrifice would lay the foundations of an Allied victory on the western front.
FORWARD PLANNING
The battle for Normandy was the result of years of preparation. Following the defeat of France in the third week of June 1940, Britain had successfully withstood the threat of invasion by decisively defeating the German Luftwaffe; without control of the skies over southern England, a German invasion was impossible and the Nazis were consigned to a long, drawn-out war they could ill afford,
