The D-Day

0: Gold Beach

1: Juno beach

2: Omaha beach

3: Sword beach

4: Utah Beach

5: Dartmouth

Dartmouth, England is one of the five places from which the D-Day invasion was launched. The American troops were stationed at Dartmouth. The Americans were assigned to storm Utah Beach which was under control of the Germans. The Allies sailed out on ships until they were a few miles from the coast of France. They then got into landing crafts to get as close as they could to the shore so that the soldiers could storm the beach more quickly.

Click here to see D-Day Video

6: Gold Beach, France

Gold Beach was one of the two beaches attacked by British troops. They left from Southampton on the north side of the English Channel in the wee hours of the morning. A strong wind whipped up the water level until it covered the mines hidden on the beach. Therefore, the troops were unable to disarm the mines which subsequently damaged many of the military vehicles which were to be used for the inland attack. However, by midday most of the beach was in the hands of the British. There were only 400 casualties.

7: Juno Beach, France

Juno Beach was the only beach during the D-Day invasion that was stormed by the Canadians. The Canadians set sail from Portsmouth, England. The goal for the 3rd Division Canadians was to move inland, cut the Caen-Bayeaux Road, and establish a link between Gold and Sword Beaches. While waiting for the weather to clear, the timetable for the planned invasion was delayed enough that the troops landed during high tide which put many of the German defenses underwater on the beach. Engineers were then unable to disarm the mines as planned which resulted in 30% of the landing vehicles destroyed or damaged. The first wave of men making the landing had a 50/50 chance of surviving the German onslaught. About 1200 men lost their lives on Juno Beach.

8: Omaha Beach France

Omaha Beach was heavily fortified by the Germans, so the 1st and 29th Infantry American Divisions were deployed to take the beach. They departed from Portland, England. The pre-landing air bombardments which were to soften the German defenses were unsuccessful. In some areas the Americans had to scale bluffs as high as 100 feet with German troops defending the high ground. Troops were ambushed as they jumped from the transports. Those who made it ashore had to cross the beach filled with landmines. More than 2000 casualties resulted at Omaha Beach, but by day’s end the Allies had a toehold on the Normandy coast.

9: Portland, England

Portland, England was the other point of departure for the D-Day attack. Americans were in charge of this part of the invasion which was to occur at Omaha Beach. The Americans also used amphibious landing crafts at Omaha. The Americans left for Omaha at 0130 (1:30 am), and arrived at (6:20 am).

10: Portsmouth, England

Portsmouth, England served as a launch site for the only Canadian regiment that fought in the D-Day Invasion. The Canadians were to attack at Juno Beach.

11: Shoreham-by-Sea, England

British troops were also deployed from Shoreham-by-Sea on the English side of the channel during the D-Day invasion. Their mission was to overrun and take control of Sword Beach on the French side of the English Channel.

12: Southampton, England

South Hampton, England was one of the launch sites of the British troops involved in the D-Day attack. They attacked Gold on the French Coast from South Hampton. The English landing crafts arrived at Gold Beach at 0725 (7:25 am. They got to Gold Beach at 0725 (7:25am).

13: Sword Beach, France

Sword Beach was also assigned to the British during the D-Day invasion. They sailed from Shoreham-by-Sea on the English coast. The soldiers attacking the beach were to join British paratroopers who had landed inland earlier. They met little resistance during the landing, but experienced the only counter-attack of the invasion when they tried to link up with the Canadians at Juno Beach. The counter-attack was short lived as German Panzers were destroyed by Allied fighter planes. Allied forces advanced four miles inland by the end of the day and stabilized the beach. They lost 630 men.

14: Utah Beach, France

Utah Beach was one of the five beaches targeted by the Allies during the D-Day invasion. The Americans launched from Dartmouth, England on the British side of the English Channel. They used landing crafts to storm the beach. Utah Beach had a surprisingly low amount of casualties, only about 200, because they landed at the wrong location. The original target landing was heavily defended. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. ordered his troops to launch their branch of the invasion from the wrong landing site. Within hours Utah Beach was secured and the troops continued to move inland.