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The D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, marked the launch of Operation Overlord. Operation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of Normandy. The Normandy Campaign proved to be one of the most important Allied military operations of World War II. It was key to the western Allies’ victory over Germany. By the end of June, more than 850,000 Allied troops had come ashore on the beaches of Normandy.

Operation Overlord began on June 6, 1944. This date is known as “D-Day.” D-Day was the largest amphibious invasion in history. More than 150,000 primarily American, British, and Canadian troops were deployed that day by air and sea.

D-Day marked the beginning of the end of the German occupation of France. Two and a half months later, Allied forces liberated Paris.

By June 1944, more than five million Jews had been murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators in the Holocaust (1933–1945). Nevertheless, Operation Overlord likely contributed to the survival of hundreds of thousands of Jews in western and central Europe.

D-Day took place on June 6, 1944. It is one of the best-known and most important moments of the US war effort during World War II (1939–1945).

On June 6, 1944, Allied troops launched a military operation code named Operation Overlord. On that day, US, British, and Canadian troops crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. These troops were augmented by men from many other countries, including: France, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Today, “D-Day” commonly refers to June 6, 1944, the launch date of Operation Overlord. In military terminology, however, “d-day” refers to the start date of any military operation.

D-Day marked the opening of an Allied front in western Europe. In the months that followed, the western Allies (led by Britain and the United States) drove German troops out of France and other western European countries . They eventually crossed into Germany. At the same time, the Soviet Union (also a member of the Allies) battled German forces from the east. Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7–8, 1945, almost a year after D-Day.    

Explore images related to the June 6, 1944, Allied invasion of Normandy—commonly known as “D-Day."

Items 1 through 1 of 2

General Dwight D. Eisenhower visits with paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division just hours before their jump into German-occupied France ( D-Day ). June 5, 1944.

Captain Lasdun briefs troops of the British Army on June 4, 1944, two days before the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day .

Assault troops in a landing craft approach Omaha Beach on D-Day . Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

US troops wade ashore at Normandy on D-Day , the beginning of the Allied invasion of France to establish a second front against German forces in Europe. Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

US troops wade through the surf on their arrival at the Normandy beaches on D-Day . Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

US troops pull the survivors of a sunken craft onto the shores of the Normandy beaches on D-Day . Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

British troops land on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day , the beginning of the Allied invasion of France to establish a second front against German forces in Europe. Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

Canadian troops of the 'B' Company, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment take cover on June 6, 1944, or D-Day .

Dated June 6, 1944, this US Twelfth Army Group situation map shows the presumed locations of Allied and Axis forces on D-Day , when Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. Drafted during the war, the content in this historical map reflects the information that operational commander, General Omar N. Bradley, would have had on hand at the time.

The Normandy beach as it appeared after D-Day . Landing craft on the beach unload troops and supplies transferred from transports offshore. Barrage balloons hover overhead to deter German aircraft. Normandy, France, undated (after June 6, 1944).

Teenager Simon Jeruchim learned of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France ( D-Day ) on a shortwave radio. He painted a watercolor depiction of the bombing and burning of a town situated on a river. He titled the piece "Memory of June 6, 1944."

Simon Jeruchim was born in Paris in 1929 to Samuel and Sonia (née Szpiro), Jewish émigrés from Poland. In July 1942, Simon’s parents were able to find hiding places for him and his siblings, but they were arrested and deported to Auschwitz before they could themselves go into hiding. Simon spent almost two years in Normandy. There, a schoolmaster gave him a gift consisting of watercolors and a sketchpad. Simon used them to depict various aspects of his life in Normandy.

The Events of D-Day and the Normandy Campaign

Operation Overlord was organized under the overall command of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force. British General Bernard Montgomery commanded the ground forces landing in Normandy. 

During the operation, 133,000 Allied ground troops landed on five beaches stretched over roughly 50 miles of Normandy’s coastline. The beaches were code named (west to east): Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. US troops hit the beaches of Utah and Omaha, while British and Canadian units stormed the beaches of Gold, Juno, and Sword. On the night before the amphibious landings, more than 23,000 US, British, and Canadian paratroopers landed in France behind the German defensive lines by parachute and glider. Some 195,000 naval personnel and merchant mariners, 7,000 vessels, and more than 11,500 aircraft supported the initial invasion.

At first, under the command of Field Marshals Gerd von Rundstedt and Erwin Rommel , the Germans held the advantage in battle positioning. The German Seventh Army, with six divisions, including one tank division, was in place to defend northwest France from any invading forces. However, the Allies had an overwhelming advantage in naval and air power. Moreover, a successful Allied deception plan had led the Germans to believe the point of the attack would be further north and east on the coast near Calais and the Belgian border. The Germans moved slowly to reinforce the Normandy defenses after the initial landing, just in case the Allies were trying to divert attention from a larger attack elsewhere.

“‘This is D-Day,’ the BBC announced at twelve. ‘This is the day.’ The invasion has begun...Is this really the beginning of the long-awaited liberation? The liberation we’ve all talked so much about, which still seems too good, too much of a fairy tale ever to come true? Will this year, 1944, bring us victory? We don’t know yet. But where there’s hope, there’s life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.” — Anne Frank , diary entry dated June 6, 1944

By nightfall of June 6, more than 150,000 Allied servicemen had made it by air or sea onto French soil. Allied troops had suffered more than 10,000 casualties (servicemen who were killed, wounded, or missing), with 4,400 confirmed dead. British and Canadian forces suffered around 3,700 casualties; and US forces suffered about 6,600 casualties. German forces suffered a casualty rate of between 4,000 and 9,000 men.

On D-Day itself, the Allies initially failed to reach their planned objective of linking the beachheads or driving inland to a distance of 9 miles. On June 11, however, Allied troops overcame German resistance. They united the invasion beaches into one large beachhead. But despite Allied military superiority, the Germans contained Allied troops in their slowly expanding beachhead for six weeks. Today, this battle is commonly known as the Battle of Normandy. 

On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. Commonly known as D-Day, the invasion was one of the most important Allied military operations during World War II.

Massive Allied landings of air- and sea-borne forces on five Normandy beaches (codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword) began on June 6, 1944 (D-Day). The purpose of the invasion was to establish a bridgehead from which Allied forces could break out and liberate France. By the end of the operation's first day, some 150,000 troops were ashore in Normandy. This footage shows Allied forces landing on the Normandy beaches.

Allied air superiority over Germany was a decisive factor in the success of the D-Day (June 6, 1944) landings in France. This footage shows the Allied bombing of suspected German positions during the battle. Allied air attacks both supported Allied ground operations in Normandy and prevented German reinforcements from reaching the area. The Allies would liberate most of France by the end of August 1944.

The Allied Liberation of France

On July 25, 1944, with the launching of Operation Cobra, Allied troops broke out of the Normandy beachhead near the town of Saint-Lô. They began to pour into northern France. By mid-August, Allied troops encircled and destroyed much of the German army in the Normandy region near Falaise. 

Spearheaded by General George Patton's Third Army, the Allies then raced across northern France. On August 25, the Allies liberated Paris , with French forces taking a prominent role. In September, US troops crossed into Luxembourg , which at the time was annexed to the German Reich. 

Many in the United States hoped that the European war would be over by the end of 1944. However, the western Allied advance slowed. In mid-December 1944, Nazi Germany launched a counteroffensive that became known as the Battle of the Bulge . The Allied victory in the Battle of the Bulge proved decisive. It ultimately led to the Allied victory in World War II. 

The success of D-Day and Operation Overlord proved crucial to defeating Nazi Germany during World War II. 

D-Day and the Holocaust

By D-Day, Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators had already murdered more than five million European Jews. 

As Allied troops stormed ashore on D-Day, Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators were unrelentingly carrying out the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. Hundreds of miles away, Nazi German and Hungarian officials were in the midst of a massive deportation operation of Jews from Hungary . Between May 15 and July 9, 1944, they deported 420,000 Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center. There, Nazi authorities murdered most of these people in gas chambers.  

Today, it is clear that an Allied victory over Nazi Germany was the only way to stop the Holocaust (1933–1945). 

Nazi authorities continued to murder Jews until the final days of World War II. But the Allied invasion of France and subsequent victories likely saved hundreds of thousands of Jews in western and central Europe from being murdered in the Holocaust. As Allied and Soviet troops moved across Europe against Nazi Germany, they encountered concentration camps , mass graves, and other sites of Nazi crimes where Europe’s Jews had been mass murdered by the Nazis and their allies and collaborators. Though liberation of Nazi camps was not a primary objective of the Allied military campaign, US, British, Canadian, and Soviet troops freed prisoners from their SS guards, provided aid to survivors, and collected evidence later used in war crimes trials .

Critical Thinking Questions

Genocide often happens under cover of war. What was the relationship between the progress of the war and the mass murder of Europe’s Jews?

How many Jews had been murdered by D-Day? What camps and killing centers were still in operation?

When did Allied forces in the west begin to encounter concentration camps? When did Soviet forces encounter Nazi camps in German-occupied Poland?

2024 marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Why is it important to learn about this event?

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How D‑Day Changed the Course of WWII

By: Roy Wenzl

Updated: March 13, 2024 | Original: April 23, 2018

The D-Day military invasion that helped to end World War II was one the most ambitious and consequential military campaigns in human history. In its strategy and scope—and its enormous stakes for the future of the free world—historians regard it among the greatest military achievements ever.

D-Day, code-named Operation Overlord, launched on June 6, 1944, after the commanding Allied general, Dwight D. Eisenhower , ordered the largest invasion force in history—hundreds of thousands of American, British, Canadian and other troops—to ship across across the English Channel and come ashore on the beaches of Normandy , on France’s northern coast. After almost five years of war, nearly all of Western Europe was occupied by German troops or held by fascist governments, like those of Spain and Italy. The Western Allies’ goal: to put an end to the Germany army and, by extension, to topple Adolf Hitler ’s barbarous Nazi regime.

Here’s why D-Day remains an event of great magnitude, and why we owe those fighters so much:

Halting the Nazi Genocidal Machine

German armies during World War II overran most of Europe and North Africa and much of the western Soviet Union . They set up murderous police states everywhere they went, then hunted down and imprisoned millions. With gas chambers and firing squads they killed 6 million Jewish people and millions more Poles, Russians, gays, disabled people and others undesirable to the Nazi regime, which sought to engineer a master Germanic race.

“It’s hard to imagine what the consequences would have been had the Allies lost,” says Timothy Rives, deputy director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas. “You could make the argument that they saved the world. A few months after D-Day, General Eisenhower visited a German death camp, and wrote: “We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against.”

Invasion Went Beyond the Beaches

The “D” in D-Day means simply “Day,” as in “The day we invade.” (The military had to call it something.) But to those who survived June 6, and the subsequent summer-long incursion, D-Day meant sheer terror. Raymond Hoffman, from Lowell, Massachusetts, gave an oral history interview in 1978 at the Eisenhower Library about the life-and-death fear he survived as a 22-year-old paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

On D-Day he parachuted with a hard thud into a Normandy cow pasture only minutes after midnight—and he heard footsteps approaching fast, even before he could unhook himself from his parachute straps.

“Boy, here I am,” he thought. “Five minutes on the ground and I’m about to get it. And I’m flat on my back, and…I got to roll, and I can’t get to my weapon and now… I can’t find my knife! And the footsteps have stopped…and (suddenly) I am looking up into the eyes of a big, brown cow.”

That was worth a grin then. But hours later, “some mysteries in life were removed,” Hoffman said.

In a gunfight with German soldiers, where bullets flew so thick that no one dared raise their heads to look up, he removed “the mystery” he’d pondered for months—about whether fear in combat would compel him to run or to fight.

He fought. And there was no longer any mystery: “You now know what it is like to be fired upon,” he said, “as well as to fire.”

An Effort of Staggering Scale

“I had some fun here one day looking up statistics, of all the stuff the Allies piled up on the beaches of southern England to support the invasion,” says Rives. “They had massive ammo dumps, and supply dumps, and in one of those supply dumps they had piled up 3,500 tons of bath soap—which Eisenhower later sent into France so the soldiers could take baths.

“He had 3 million troops under his command, and what they all devoured in just one day was stupendous,” says Rives. According to historian Rick Atkinson, commanders had “calculated daily combat consumption, from fuel to bullets to chewing gum, at 41.298 pounds per soldier. Sixty million K-rations, enough to feed the invaders for a month, were packed in 500-ton bales.”

Steep Casualties

German machine-gunners mowed down hundreds of Allied soldiers before they ever got off the landing boats onto the Normandy beaches. But Eisenhower overwhelmed them, Rives says, with 160,000 assault troops, 12,000 aircraft and 200,000 sailors manning 7,000 sea vessels.

Their losses were steep: The eight assault divisions now ashore had suffered 12,000 killed, wounded and missing, with thousands more unaccounted for, according to Atkinson. The Americans lost 8,230 of the total.

“Many were felled by 9.6-gram bullets moving at 2,000 to 4,000 feet per second,” Atkinson wrote. “Such specks of steel could destroy a world, cell by cell.”

Three thousand French civilians were killed in the invasion, mostly by Allied bombs or shell fire. By then the French had lost so much in the war that they’d run out of medical supplies. Some injured citizens were reduced to disinfecting their wounds with calvados, the local brandy fermented from apples, according to Atkinson.

But when the Allied soldiers marched inland from the beaches, the French cheered, many of them giving soldiers flowers, many of them sobbing in happiness.

D-Day Strategy

No one thought victory was sure. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had pestered Eisenhower and President Franklin Roosevelt for two years before D-Day, pleading that they avoid Normandy and instead pursue a slower, less dangerous strategy, putting more troops into Italy and southern France.

But the Germans had killed tens of millions of civilians and soldiers in the Soviet Union, and the Soviets desperately wanted the Allies to bleed the Germany army by opening up a second front of battle. Eisenhower thought it disgraceful to avoid Normandy, and thought Normandy was the best military move, not only to win but to shorten the war.

The Allies had long planned the invasion for a narrow window in the lunar cycle that would provide both maximum moonlight to illuminate landing places for gliders—and low tides at dawn to reveal the German’s extensive underwater coastal defenses. Poor weather forced Allied troops to delay the operation a day, cutting into that window. But in a stroke of luck, German forecasters predicted that gale-force winds and rough seas would deter the invasion even longer, so the Nazis redeployed some of their forces away from the coast. German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel even traveled home to celebrate his wife’s birthday, bringing her a pair of Parisian shoes.

On the night before the invasion, Eisenhower penciled himself an “In case of failure” note, to be published if necessary: “If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone,” he wrote.

“Of all the documents we have from his time in the Army and in his eight years of the presidency, I regard that as our most significant document here,” Rives said of the collection at the Eisenhower Library. “It shows the character of the man who led it all.”

Eisenhower hated war. Years after the war ended, he gave a speech, with a paragraph that can be seen engraved in the marble stone wall surrounding his tomb in Abilene, Kansas.

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.”

The Importance of the D-Day Victory

Most battles are quickly forgotten. But all free nations owe their culture and democracy to D-Day, which can be grouped among some of the most epic victories in history. They include George Washington ’s defeat of the British army at Yorktown in 1781, which allowed the American experiment in democracy to survive, and to inspire oppressed people everywhere.

And in 490 and 480 B.C, the small armies and navies of Greece defeated the huge invading forces of the Persian Empire at the battles of Marathon and Salamis. The Greeks saved not only themselves, but their democracy, classic literature, art and architecture, philosophy and much more.

Historians put D-Day in the same category of greatness.

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D-day: the allies invade europe.

In May 1944, the Western Allies were finally prepared to deliver their greatest blow of the war, the long-delayed, cross-channel invasion of northern France, code-named Overlord.

Top Photo: Into the Jaws of Death — U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire. June 6, 1944. Records of the U.S. Coast Guard (NAID 355)

In May 1944, the Western Allies were finally prepared to deliver their greatest blow of the war, the long-delayed, cross-channel invasion of northern France, code-named Overlord . General Dwight D. Eisenhower was supreme commander of the operation that ultimately involved the coordinated efforts of 12 nations.

After much deliberation, it was decided that the landings would take place on the long, sloping beaches of Normandy. There, the Allies would have the element of surprise. The German high command expected the attack to come in the Pas de Calais region, north of the river Seine where the English Channel is narrowest. It was here that Adolf Hitler had put the bulk of his panzer divisions after being tipped off by Allied undercover agents posing as German sympathizers that the invasion would take place in the Pas de Calais.

Surprise was an essential element of the Allied invasion plan. If the Germans had known where and when the Allies were coming they would have hurled them back into the sea with the 55 divisions they had in France. The invaders would have been on the offensive with a 10-to-1 manpower ratio against them.

The challenges of mounting a successful landing were daunting. The English Channel was notorious for its rough seas and unpredictable weather, and the enemy had spent months constructing the Atlantic Wall, a 2,400-mile line of obstacles. This defensive wall comprised 6.5 million mines, thousands of concrete bunkers and pillboxes containing heavy and fast-firing artillery, tens of thousands of tank ditches, and other formidable beach obstacles. And the German army would be dug in on the cliffs overlooking the American landing beaches.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Order of the Day, delivered to Allied personnel on June 6, 1944. (Image: Eisenhower Presidential Library.)

At the Tehran Conference in August 1943, Allied leaders scheduled Overlord to take no later than May 1, 1944. In the meantime, they prepared ceaselessly for the attack. Trucks, tanks, and tens of thousands of troops poured into England. “We were getting ready for one of the biggest adventures of our lives,” an American sergeant said. “We couldn’t wait.” Meanwhile, the American and British air forces in England conducted a tremendous bombing campaign that targeted railroad bridges and roadways in northern France to prevent the Germans from bringing in reserves to stop the invasion.

After General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander, he and General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery modified the plan, expanding the size of the beachhead and the number of divisions in the initial assault. This, led Allied leaders to set June 5, 1944, as the invasion’s D-Day . But on the morning of June 4, meteorologists predicted foul weather over the English Channel on the 5th, leading Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours. The delay was unnerving for soldiers, sailors, and airmen, but when meteorologists forecast a brief window of clearer weather over the channel on June 6, Eisenhower made the decision to go. It was one of the gutsiest decisions of the war.

Just after midnight on June 6, Allied airborne troops began dropping behind enemy lines. Their job was to blow up bridges, sabotage railroad lines, and take other measures to prevent the enemy from rushing reinforcements to the invasion beaches. Hours later, the largest amphibious landing force ever assembled began moving through the storm-tossed waters toward the beaches. Most of the Americans were packed into flat-bottomed Higgins boats launched from troop transports 10 miles from the French coastline. Vomit filled the bottom of the boats, and as water kept rushing in over the gunwales, the green-faced men had to bail this vile stew with their helmets. Though it was cold, the men were sweating. 

Personnel and equipment arriving at Normandy by air and sea following the D-Day invasion in 1944. (National Archives and Records Administration, 26-G-2517.)

Planners had divided the landing zone into five separate beaches. The Americans landed at Utah and Omaha beaches. The British and Canadians landed at Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches.  

The fiercest fighting was on Omaha Beach where the enemy was positioned on steep cliffs that commanded the long, flat shoreline. Troops leapt from their landing boats and were pinned down for hours by murderous machine-gun fire that turned the beach into a vast killing field. “If you (stayed) there you were going to die,” Lieutenant Colonel Bill Friedman said. “We just had to . . . try to get to the bottom of the cliffs on which the Germans had mounted their defenses.” By midday, the Americans had surmounted the cliffs and taken Omaha Beach at a heavy cost: over 2,400 killed, wounded, or missing out of the total of approximately 34,000 who came ashore that day, a loss rate of more than 7 percent. 

Original caption: The Invasion Stream Floods the Beaches of France. Bulging with reinforcements from the liberation waves that struck the French beaches and beached the vaunted Atlantic Wall, Coast Guard landing barges ferry the flood of fighting men who are spreading our over Normandy. They are transferred from a Coast Guard assault transport in the English Channel. In the distance, in a rhino loaded with ambulances easing toward the beach. National Archives at College Park. NAID: 205578585  

Commandos of 1st Special Service Brigade led by Brigadier Lord Lovat (in the water, to the right of his men) land on Queen Red beach, Sword area, c. 0840 hours, 6 June 1944. Sherman DD tanks of 13th/18th Royal Hussars and other vehicles can be seen on the beach. Lovat's piper, Bill Millin, is in the foreground about to disembark. Image: IWM (B 5103)

Troops of 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade disembarking with bicycles from LCI(L)s (Landing Craft Infantry Large) onto Nan White beach, Juno area, at Bernieres-sur-Mer, shortly before midday, 6 June 1944. Image: IWM (A 23938)

Commandos of HQ 4th Special Service Brigade, coming ashore from LCI(S) landing craft on Nan Red beach, Juno area, at St Aubin-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944. Image: IWM (B 5218)  

By nightfall, about 160,000 Allied troops were ashore with nearly a million more men on the way that summer.

The Normandy invasion was one of great turning points of twentieth-century history. An immense army was placed in Nazi-occupied Europe, never to be dislodged. Germany was threatened that same month by a tremendous Soviet invasion from the east that would reach the gates of Berlin by the following April. The way to appreciate D-Day’s importance is to contemplate what would have happened if it had failed. Another landing would not have been possible for at least a year. This would have given Hitler time to strengthen the Atlantic Wall, harass England with the newly developed V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets, continue to develop jet aircraft and other so-called “miracle weapons,” and finish off his killing campaign against ethnic and sexual undesirables. 

Planning for D-Day: Preparing Operation Overlord

Despite their early agreement on a strategy focused on defeating “Germany First,” the US and British Allies engaged in a lengthy and divisive debate over how exactly to conduct this strategy before they finally settled on a plan for Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

'A Pure Miracle': The D-Day Invasion of Normandy

This column is the first of three D-Day columns written by war correspondent Ernie Pyle describing the Allied invasion of Normandy. 

Operation Neptune: A Tale of Two Landings

While the Overlord operation was a combined effort of land, sea, and air forces, the amphibious assault plan was given the code name Neptune.

D-Day Doctrine: Six Elements for a Successful Landing

Planning the Overlord assault didn’t just happen overnight. It was a result of a prewar doctrinal framework built upon six identified components for an amphibious assault.

The Airborne Invasion of Normandy

On June 5, 13,400 American paratroopers boarded C-47 aircraft for the largest airborne operation in history. Problems began as they crossed into France. 

Explore Further

Allied Tactical Airpower in the Summer, Fall of 1944

From the hedgerows of Normandy across the rivers of northern France and into the dense forests of the Hürtgen and the Ardennes, Royal Air Force (RAF) and US Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft cleared the way for the advance of the Allied ground armies. 

MacArthur Returns to the Philippines

General Douglas MacArthur vowed to return to the Philippines in 1942—and more than two years later, he delivered on his promise.

Appeasement and 'Peace for Our Time'

Concessions in diplomatic negotiations were nothing new, but after Munich, appeasement took on a new meaning. 

Wreck of 'Ghost Ship of the Pacific' Found off California Coast

The USS Stewart , a Clemson-class destroyer, earned the nickname after having the unique distinction of serving under both the American and Imperial Japanese navies during World War II. 

Oscar Perdomo: The Last Undisputed ‘Ace in a Day’

While becoming an "ace" pilot requires a number of finely honed skills and exceptional aeronautical ability, it is even harder to achieve this status in only one day.

The Romani Uprising in Auschwitz-Birkenau

On May 16, 1944, when SS men arrived in the Romani section of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Roma refused to leave their barracks and armed themselves for a fight to the death. 

The Sonderkommando Uprising in Auschwitz-Birkenau

Every day, the Sonderkommando was forced to operate the gas chambers and crematoria as more and more train cars full of European Jews arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

Typhoon Cobra: Halsey Versus Mother Nature

With Japan on the strategic defensive and her combat power waning, another fleet moving against the island nation also felt the wrath of Mother Nature.

D-Day: The Role in World War II Research Paper

D-day is an important historical event that happened on June 6, 1944. During World War II, allied armies suffered significant losses, and D-day, also known as the Normandy landings, or Operation Overlord, resulted in terrible human losses. This invasion became one of the hugest amphibious military actions and demanded profound planning (History.com Editors, 2019). It is essential to examine facts about D-day to understand the scale of its significance in terms of World War II.

The preparations for this military operation were extensive and witty. Several months before D-day, the Allies made German soldiers think that Pas-de-Calais was the main aim, not Normandy (History.com Editors, 2019). Many techniques were used to conduct such a deception, including false weapons. Moreover, the operation was delayed by one day because of poor weather conditions. Indeed, after the meteorologist predicted weather improvement, General Dwight Eisenhower approved the process. He motivated his soldiers with vital speeches, which became legendary. More than five thousand ships and eleven thousand aircraft were mobilized during D-day (History.com Editors, 2019). About 156,000 allied troops conquered the Normandy territories by the end of June 6, 1944. Next week the Allies stormed countryside areas, facing German opposition.

By the end of 1944, Paris was released after the Allies approached the Seine River. German armies left France, which signalized the victory (History.com Editors, 2019). Indeed, the critical fact was a significant mental crash during the Normandy invasion. It prevented Adolf Hitler from creating his Eastern Front against the Soviet armies. The Allies decided to eliminate Nazi Germany; Adolf Hitler committed suicide a week before the decision, on April 30, 1945 (History.com Editors, 2019). D-Day became a significant event that influenced the pace of World War II. Undoubtedly, many people died and suffered severe injuries during the event; however, it became an essential part of history.

History.com Editors. (2019). D-Day . History.

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IvyPanda. (2023, April 8). D-Day: The Role in World War II. https://ivypanda.com/essays/d-day-the-role-in-world-war-ii/

"D-Day: The Role in World War II." IvyPanda , 8 Apr. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/d-day-the-role-in-world-war-ii/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'D-Day: The Role in World War II'. 8 April.

IvyPanda . 2023. "D-Day: The Role in World War II." April 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/d-day-the-role-in-world-war-ii/.

1. IvyPanda . "D-Day: The Role in World War II." April 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/d-day-the-role-in-world-war-ii/.

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Home — Essay Samples — War — D-Day — D Day Speech Analysis

D Day Speech Analysis

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Published: Mar 19, 2024

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I. introduction, ii. historical context of d-day, iii. analysis of the d-day speech, iv. impact of the speech on the audience, v. conclusion, a. the speech delivered on d-day undoubtedly played a crucial role in motivating and inspiring the allied forces. through powerful rhetoric and stirring words, the speaker was able to instill a sense of determination and unity among the troops. by appealing to their sense of duty and highlighting the importance of the mission at hand, the speech effectively boosted morale and encouraged soldiers to persevere in the face of daunting challenges., b. in addition to its impact on the troops, the speech also had a significant influence on public perception of the war effort. through radio broadcasts and newspaper coverage, the words spoken on d-day reached a wide audience, shaping their understanding of the conflict and the sacrifices being made by allied forces. the speech served to galvanize support for the war and rally the nation behind the cause of defeating fascism and securing peace in europe., c. the long-term effects of the speech on historical memory and commemoration of d-day cannot be understated. the words spoken on that fateful day have become ingrained in the collective consciousness, serving as a reminder of the courage and sacrifice of those who fought on the beaches of normandy. the speech continues to be remembered and honored to this day, as we reflect on the significance of d-day and the pivotal role it played in shaping the course of history..

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European journal of American studies

Home Issues 7-2 The Many Meanings of D-Day

The Many Meanings of D-Day

This essay investigates what D-Day has symbolized for Americans and how and why its meaning has changed over the past six decades. While the commemoration functions differently in U.S. domestic and foreign policies, in both cases it has been used to mark new beginnings. Ronald Reagan launched his “morning again in America” 1984 re-election campaign from the Pointe du Hoc, and the international commemorations on the Normandy beaches since 1990 have been occasions to display the changing face of Europe and the realignment of allies.

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1 For Americans, June 6, 1944 “D-Day” has come to symbolize World War II, with commemorations at home and abroad. How did this date come to assume such significance and how have the commemorations changed over the 65 years since the Normandy landings? How does D-Day function in U.S. cultural memory and in domestic politics and foreign policy? This paper will look at some of the major trends in D-Day remembrances, particularly in international commemorations and D-Day’s meaning in U.S. and Allied foreign policy. Although war commemorations are ostensibly directed at reflecting on the hallowed past, the D-Day observances, particularly since the 1980s, have also marked new beginnings in both domestic and foreign policy.

2 As the invasion was taking place in June 1944, there was, of course, a great deal of coverage in the U.S. media. The events in Normandy, however, shared the June headlines with other simultaneous developments on the European front including the fall of Rome. 1

1. Early Years

3 The very first anniversary of the D-Day landings was marked on June 6, 1945 by a holiday for the Allied forces. In his message to the troops announcing the holiday General Eisenhower stated that “formal ceremonies would be avoided.” 2

4 By the time the invasion’s fifth anniversary rolled around in 1949 the day was marked by a “colorful but modest memorial service” at the beach. The U.S. was represented at the event by the military attaché and the naval attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Paris. A French naval guard, a local bugle corps and an honor guard from an American Legion Post in Paris all took part. A pair of young girls from the surrounding villages placed wreaths on the beach, and a U.S. Air Force Flying Fortresses passed over, firing rockets and dropping flowers. 3

5 The anniversaries of the early 1950s reflected the tenor of the times, evoking both the economic and military Cold War projects of the U.S. in Europe: the Marshall Plan and NATO. Barry Bingham, head of the Marshall Plan Mission in France, used the occasion of the 1950 D-Day commemoration ceremony to praise France’s postwar recovery efforts. 4 Held in the middle of the Korean War, the 1952 D-Day commemoration at Utah Beach proved an opportunity for General Matthew D. Ridgway, Supreme Commander Allied Forces in Europe and a D-Day veteran, to speak of U.S. purpose in the Cold War against “a new and more fearful totalitarianism.” He warned the Communist powers not to “underestimate our resolve to live as free men in our own territories….We will gather the strength we have pledged to one another and set it before our people and our lands as a protective shield until reason backed by strength halts further aggression….” Referring to both his status as a D-Day participant and his current role as military commander of NATO, Ridgway pledged: “The last time I came here, I came as one of thousands to wage war. This time I come to wage peace.” 5

6 The tenth anniversary of the D-Day landings found President Dwight Eisenhower, who as Commander of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) had led the Normandy invasion, strolling through a wheat field in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 6 Eisenhower sent a statement to be read at the Utah Beach commemoration ceremony by the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. who was the President’s personal representative at the anniversary events. In contrast to the bellicose remarks of General Ridgway a few years earlier, Eisenhower in 1954 expressed “profound regret” that all of “the members of the Grand Alliance have not maintained in time of peace the spirit of that wartime union.” Eisenhower used this anniversary occasion to recall “my pleasant association with the outstanding Soviet Soldier, Marshall Zhukov, and the victorious meeting at the Elbe of the armies of the West and of the East.” 7 A decade later, in preparation for the twentieth anniversary of the D-Day landings, Eisenhower, no longer president, returned to the Normandy beaches in 1963 to film a D-Day TV special for CBS. 8

7 In between the tenth and twentieth anniversaries, U.S. domestic interest in the Normandy landings had been stoked by Cornelius Ryan’s 1959 best-seller The Longest Day and the 1962 Hollywood epic that Darryl F. Zanuck produced based on Ryan’s book. The film was also notable for giving separate attention to the contributions of the British and Canadian forces as well as those of the French Resistance. The German actions in Normandy were depicted without demonization. Leading German actors (speaking German) gave voice to the professional military’s criticism of Hitler’s leadership. This empathetic portrayal was an indication perhaps of West Germany’s position in the NATO alliance. Clocking in at 178 minutes and shot in black and white for a documentary feel, The Longest Day boasted a cast that was a Who’s-who of British and American male stars of the era: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Peter Lawford, Sean Connery, Richard Beymer, Red Buttons, Eddie Albert, and teen heart-throbs Fabian, Paul Anka, Tommy Sands and Sal Mineo. This display of bold-face names served to undercut the film’s intended documentary effect as their presence constantly reminded the viewers that they were watching a Hollywood production. Critics pointed out that Zanuck’s attention to period detail in weapons, equipment and language did not carry through to a realistic depiction of combat death and casualties—a charge that could not be laid against Steven Spielberg for Saving Private Ryan a 1998 Hollywood D-Day block-buster . 9

8 In spite of this heightened public interest in D-Day, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, absorbed in both his ambitious domestic agenda—including trying to secure passage of the Civil Rights Act-- and the Vietnam War, did not travel to Normandy for the twentieth anniversary. Instead he sent General Omar N. Bradley, one of the commanders of the 1944 landings. 10

9 For the twenty-fifth anniversary in 1969 President Richard Nixon, focused on Vietnam, issued a boilerplate proclamation, calling the Allied landings in 1944 “‘a historical landmark in the history of freedom.’” 11 When the time came for the thirtieth anniversary of D-Day in 1974, Nixon again was too preoccupied to travel to Normandy. Congress had already begun impeachment hearings against him on charges of obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress arising from the Watergate affair. Nixon would resign in August 1974, and Presidential attention for the rest of the 1970s was directed at the aftermath of Vietnam and at new crisis like those involving the U.S. economy, energy, and the seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Teheran. The moment for actively reinvigorating the memory of World War II had not yet arrived.

10 As the G-7 leaders 12 gathered in Paris for their meetings at Versailles in early June 1982, President Ronald Reagan made D-Day the focus of his radio broadcast to U.S. audiences on June 5. He also prepared taped remarks on D-Day for broadcast on French television. 13 Although the President himself did not travel to the landing sites in 1982, U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan paid a three-hour visit to Normandy to mark the thirty-eighth anniversary of D-Day. 14 Accompanied by the Defense and Army attachés of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, she laid a wreath at the memorial statue in the U.S. cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer and made some brief remarks to a small crowd: “If my husband were here today, he would tell you how deeply he feels the responsibilities of peace and freedom. He would tell you how we can best insure that other young men on other beaches and other fields will not have to die. And I think he would tell you of his ideas for nuclear peace.” 15

2. “Morning Again in America”

11 Two years later on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day in June 1984 her husband President Ronald Reagan would get the chance to personally address those gathered to commemorate the Normandy invasion. But this time the crowd was no longer small. Speaking at the Ranger Monument at Pointe du Hoc at 1:20 p.m. (timed to coincide with the morning TV programs on the U.S. East Coast and designed as part of Reagan’s re-election campaign) President Reagan delivered his now-famous “boys of Pointe du Hoc” address to a television audience of millions as well as to the veterans and Allied leaders gathered on the Normandy coast. In remarks carefully crafted by Peggy Noonan, Reagan first paid tribute to the Ranger veterans, recreating dramatically their heroic deeds in scaling the cliffs: “They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only ninety could still bear arms.” He went on to pay tribute to the Allies, mentioning by name “the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's ‘Matchbox Fleet’ and you, the American Rangers.” Not leaving out Germany and Italy, Reagan spoke of the reconciliation with former enemies “all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall plan led to the Atlantic alliance -- a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.” Toward the Russians, Reagan presented two faces. 16 First, he lamented: “Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost 40 years after the war.” Then he added: “It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II: 20 million perished…. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest.” After his remarks he unveiled two memorial plaques honoring the Rangers. 17

12 The Pointe du Hoc speech served as the opening salvo in Reagan’s “morning again in America” re-election campaign. Using snippets from this speech in a popular television advertisement, the campaign transformed a look back at a forty-year-old battle into a new beginning for the nation. 18

13 A few hours after the Pointe du Hoc speech Reagan gave another address on Omaha Beach, this time paying special tribute to the efforts of the French Resistance, directing his remarks at President Mitterrand, who had participated in the Resistance. “Your valiant struggle for France did so much to cripple the enemy and spur the advance of the armies of liberation. The French Forces of the Interior will forever personify courage and national spirit.” Reminding Americans and Europeans of the importance of postwar efforts like NATO, he concluded: “Our alliance, forged in the crucible of war, tempered and shaped by the realities of the postwar world, has succeeded. In Europe, the threat has been contained, the peace has been kept.” 19

14 Later that same day President Reagan joined President Mitterrand and other Allied leaders (Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, King Olav V of Norway, King Baudouin I of Belgium, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, and Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau of Canada) at Utah Beach. Mitterrand’s remarks stressed reconciliation with Germany: “‘the adversaries of yesterday are reconciled and are building the Europe of freedom.’” 20 Chancellor Helmut Kohl had not been invited to the ceremonies, but the day’s events and speeches buttressed a NATO alliance that included (West) Germany.

15 This emphasis on the continuing importance of the NATO alliance was far from accidental. There are been widespread protests in Europe in 1984 over the installation of U.S. Cruise and Pershing missiles in accordance with a 1979 NATO decision. The “family portrait” of the assembled Allies on Utah Beach and the tribute to their absent member Germany sent a signal to publics on both sides of the Atlantic about the continuing commitment to joint defense of “the Europe of freedom.” The 1984 celebrations set a new standard for D-Day commemorations and established a pattern that would be followed (with variations) for the next twenty-five years. By looking at these variations in subsequent years we can monitor changes in transatlantic relations.

3. A New Europe

16 By the time of the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day the map of Europe had shifted once again. The Warsaw Pact had dissolved; Germany had reunited; Czechoslovakia had split; the Soviet Union was no more. In June 1994 leaders of all the countries that had participated in the invasion gathered at Normandy: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the UK and the U.S. and this year for the first time leaders of Poland and the Czech Republic and Slovakia—a visible symbol of the changed faced of Europe since 1989 and yet another new beginning for the continent. In addition the year marked a generational shift, with the U.S. represented in Normandy by President Clinton who had been born after the end of World War II.

• 22  Jeffrey Birnbaum, “Reporter’s Notebook: Clinton, Facing Comparison with Reagan’s D-Day Speech Rise (...)

17 Clinton, of course, had a hard act to follow given the iconic status that Reagan’s “boys of Pointe du Hoc” speech had attained over the past decade. He also had the disadvantage of never having served in the military and of having famously avoided serving in the Vietnam War. In a new wrinkle to D-Day celebrations, Clinton, along with Queen Elizabeth and other Allied leaders, sailed from Portsmouth, England to the French coast in a “massive flotilla” accompanied by Lancaster bombers to recreate and commemorate the 1944 invasion. 21 In France Clinton participated in four ceremonies marking the anniversary of the landings. In his address at the American cemetery he turned his seeming disadvantage of lack of WWII experience into an advantage as he stressed the ties between generations: “‘We are the children of your sacrifice,’” he told the veterans of D-Day. “‘The flame of your youth became freedom's lamp, and we see its light reflected in your faces still, and in the faces of your children and grandchildren…. We commit ourselves, as you did, to keep that lamp burning for those who will follow. You completed your mission here. But the mission of freedom goes on; the battle continues. The `longest day' is not yet over.’” 22

18 D-Day anniversaries were not only occasions for major political gatherings and speeches, but had also become important tourist attractions and income generators for Western Europe, especially France, with Normandy hotels and guest houses fully booked for early June. In 1994 France alone hosted more than 350 events commemorating the D-Day landings. Many specialized tours were designed for veterans and their families. The QE2 even offered a cruise to Cherbourg featuring 1940s big bands, Vera Lynn and Bob Hope. 23 Across the Channel, thousands of veterans and their families were also welcomed at anniversary events in England. 24

19 Ten years later for the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day President George W. Bush faced a double challenge: how to repair the Alliance after the visible rupture over the Iraq War and how to compete with the memory of Ronald Reagan, whose exquisitely timed death on June 5, 2004 insured that the Great Communicator’s 1984 D-Day speeches would be replayed prominently on June 6, making comparisons between the two presidents unavoidable. The attack on Iraq in 2003 had become a point of contention among NATO Allies, with France and Germany refusing to support the war. French President Chirac as host of the Normandy commemorations invited German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to the commemorations held in Caen and Arromanche , the first time a German leader had been included in the celebrations. 25 Although Chirac’s predecessor Mitterrand had gone out of his way to emphasize conciliation with Germany in his remarks twenty years before, on the fiftieth anniversary in 1994 Chancellor Helmut Kohl had not been invited to attend any Normandy events. At the time Kohl remarked, “There was ‘no reason’ for a chancellor of Germany ‘to celebrate when others mark a battle in which tens of thousands of Germans met miserable deaths.’” Schröder declared that his invitation to the 2004 Normandy commemoration “meant that ‘Germany's long journey to the West has now been completed,’” 26 signaling a new beginning for German identity within the community of Western nations.

20 The 1944 Normandy invasion had been, of course, an attack on German forces occupying France, but Schröder had been allied with Chirac in opposing the 2003 Iraq War. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, who supported the Iraq War, on the other hand, was not invited to the 2004 celebrations. However, Tony Blair, Bush’s close ally in the Iraq War, was there along with Queen Elizabeth. President Vladimir Putin of Russia also attended-- another first. During the Cold War the Soviet Union had not been included in the Normandy celebrations, in spite of its contributions to the Allied victory in World War II. Leaders and royalty from Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and New Zealand also participated in the sixtieth anniversary events.

• 27  Richard W. Stevenson, “In Normandy, Bush Honors Veterans of D-Day,” The New York Times, 6 June 200 (...)

21 President Bush addressed the gathered veterans and heads of state at the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach, with a speech that focused on recounting the events of 1944 and on paying tribute to those who had participated in the invasion. “Mr. Bush said those who faced the hail of German machine gun fire and artillery, some who made it up over the cliffs and some who did not, had served ‘the noblest of causes’ and would never be forgotten.” 27 He turned toward President Chirac to add “And America would do it again, for our friends.” After the speech Chirac warmly clasped Bush’s hand. 28

29  Richard W. Stevenson, “In Normandy, Bush Honors Veterans of D-Day,” New York Times, 6 June 2004.

22 Bush in his remarks also reminded the Allies present that the “nations that battled across the continent would become trusted partners in the cause of peace, and our great alliance of freedom is strong, and it is still needed today,” a not-so-subtle hint to the French about the need for solidarity in the War on Terror. At the same event President Chirac vowed that “France will ‘never forget what it owes to America, its friend forever.’” 29 Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the star and director of Saving Private Ryan , were among the crowd—a mixing of real veterans with those who represented them in Hollywood.

4. A New Generation

• 30  Andrew Pierce, “Prince of Wales to attend 65 th D-Day Anniversary,” The Daily Telegraph, 2 June 200 (...)

23 In 2009 with the numbers of surviving WWII veterans drastically shrinking, heads of state again returned to Normandy to mark D-Day—the 65 th anniversary of the landings. If President Chirac had made history by inviting Chancellor Schröder and President Putin, President Sarkozy made headlines when it was learned that Queen Elizabeth had not been invited to the anniversary celebrations. French and British officials traded charges about where the blame lay and in the end, after intervention by the Obama administration, Prince Charles attended the Normandy commemoration along with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 30 Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also took part. The generational shift first evident in 1994 was now complete. With the absence of Queen Elizabeth, all the Allied leaders taking part in the ceremonies had been born after World War II and had no direct personal memories to contribute. A fresh generation had assumed command, but continued to honor the past while celebrating the new. President Obama “invoked his deceased grandfather, ‘who arrived on this beach six weeks after D-Day and marched across Europe in Patton’s Army.’ And he introduced his great-uncle, Charles Payne, who fought in Germany and traveled here from Chicago.” 31 More than had his predecessors Obama also paid extensive tribute to America’s World War II home front “On farms and in factories millions of men and women worked three shifts a day, month after month, year after year. Trucks and tanks came from plants in Michigan and Indiana, New York and Illinois. Bombers and fighter planes rolled off assembly lines in Ohio and Kansas, where my grandmother did her part as an inspector.” 32 With President Sarkozy beaming on screen behind President Obama throughout the U.S. President’s remarks, the 2009 showcased a visibly warmer Franco-American relationship than had been on display five years earlier. In his own remarks, Sarkozy noted: “The great totalitarian systems of the 20th century have been defeated. The threats that loom over the future of humanity today are of a different kind, but they are no less serious.” 33 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was so dazzled to be in the presence of the new American president that he made the Freudian slip of referring to Omaha Beach as “Obama Beach.” 34

24 Placing himself in the tradition that had started with President Reagan, Obama acknowledged, “I’m not the first American President to come and mark this anniversary, and I likely will not be the last.” 35 Over the twenty-five years since the invention of the Normandy “summits,” these events have become useful indicators of the state of the transatlantic relationship as well as of intra-European alignments. As the number of WWII veterans decreases to the point of elimination and the ties of the participating Allied leaders to the events become ever more attenuated, the meanings of D-Day become more about the present than the past. But looking back at even the early celebrations of the 1950s where the Marshall Plan and NATO were showcased we see that this has always been the case. The D-Day commemorations simultaneously honored the past while marking new beginnings in domestic politics and transatlantic relations.

1  Marianna Torgovnick, The War Complex: World War II in Our Time (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005) 23. Torgovnick also points out (pp. 40-41) that the total U.S. casualty figures for D-Day were 3581, 2403 of whom were killed. These numbers are much lower than those for some other WWII battles that have not acquired D-Day’s iconic status.

2  “D-Day Anniversary to be holiday for troops,” The New York Times , 3 June 1945, 2.

3  “Normandy Marks D-Day Anniversary,” The New York Times , 6 June 1949, 1.

4  “Recovery in France is Hailed,” The New York Times, 6 June 1950, 2.

5  “Reds Warned by Ridgway to Avoid War,” Washington Post , 7 1952, 3.

6  “Eisenhower Day Serene,” The New York Times, 6 June 1954, 30.

7  “Eisenhower Cites D-Day Solidarity,” New York Times, 6 June 1954, 30.

8  Val Adams, “Eisenhower going to Normandy to film D-Day program,” The New York Times, 15July . 1963, 43.

9  Robert Brent Toplin, “Hollywood’s D-Day from the Perspective of the 1960s and 1990s,” in:  Peter C. Rollins and John E. O’Connor, eds. , Why We Fought: America’s Wars in Film and History (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2008) 306.

10  “British Ceremonies on Observances of 20 th D-Day Anniversary,” Washington Post , 4 June 1964, A8.

11  “D-Day Noted,” The New York Times, 1 June1969, 34.

12  The G-7, of course, included nations that fought on both sides of WWII: U.S., France, Britain and Canada representing the Allied forces on D-Day and Germany, Italy and Japan the Axis Powers in WWII.

13  Douglas Brinkley, The Boys of Pointe de Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day and the U.S. Army 2 nd Ranger Battalion (New York: HarperCollins, 2005) 4-5

14  Nancy Reagan had received much negative criticism during the first year of the Reagan presidency for wearing designer dresses and spending large sums redecorating the White House (including purchasing a new china service) during a recession. The D-Day program as well as her visit to the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris would serve to polish the First Lady’s public image and divert the focus from fashion during the Reagans’ time in France.

15  Enid Nemy, “Mrs. Reagan Visits U.S. Cemetery in Normandy on D-Day Anniversary,” The New York Times, 7 June 1982, D7.

16  These two approaches towards the Soviet Union reflect an internal administration debate over the address. See Brinkley, 156.

17  URL: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/60684a.htm (accessed 3/20/2010)

18  Gil Troy, Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005) 161.

19  URL: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/60684b.htm (accessed 3/20/2010)

20  John Vinocur, “Mitterrand Stresses Conciliation,: New York Times , 7 June 1984, A12.

21  William Tuohy, “Allies Sail for D-Day plus 50,” Los Angeles Times, 6June 1994.

22  Jeffrey Birnbaum, “Reporter’s Notebook: Clinton, Facing Comparison with Reagan’s D-Day Speech Rises to occasion,” The Wall Street Journal, 7 June 1994, A16.

23  Mary Blume, “Normandy’s 50 th Anniversary Invasion,” The New York Times , 22 January 1994.

24  William Schmidt, “The D-Day Tour: Reminiscences,” The New York Times , 4 June 1994.

25  Schröder, however, was not present for President Bush's address at the American Cemetery.

26  Richard Bernstein, “Europa--So far, only silence for a remarkable visit,” The New York Times,   28 May 2004.

27  Richard W. Stevenson, “In Normandy, Bush Honors Veterans of D-Day,” The New York Times, 6 June 2004.

28  Carl M. Cannon, “Obama in Good Company on D-Day,” Politics Daily URL:

  http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/06/obama-in-good-company-on-d-day/ (accessed 3/20/2010)

30  Andrew Pierce, “Prince of Wales to attend 65 th D-Day Anniversary,” The Daily Telegraph, 2 June 2009.

31  Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Hails D-Day Heroes at Normandy,” The New York Times, 6 June 2009.

32  URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-d-day-65th-anniversary-ceremony (accessed 3/21/2010)

33  Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Hails D-Day Heroes at Normandy,” The New York Times, 6 June 2009.

35  URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-d-day-65th-anniversary-ceremony (accessed 3/21/2010)

Electronic reference

Kate Delaney , “The Many Meanings of D-Day” ,  European journal of American studies [Online], 7-2 | 2012, document 13, Online since 29 March 2012 , connection on 24 October 2024 . URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ejas/9544; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ejas.9544

About the author

Kate delaney.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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An Introduction to the History of D-Day

How it works

One of the most overused essay topics is as follows: “If you could go back in history and meet one person, who would it be?” Typically, the answer is one of the famous presidents such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. Why? Historians have examined the lives of these men, wrote about their failures and triumphs; people read them and most have derived that Washington or Lincoln were superior men and should be revered forever. However, let us dwell on a topic that is not typical but sounds like it should be: “If you could go back in history and relive one day, what day would that be?” One historian, Stephen Ambrose, has created an extraordinary account of the long-forgotten June 6, 1944, known to all as D-Day, that allows readers to jump into the past and become part of one of the most tragic days in history.

D-Day actively identifies and describes the roles of the individuals involved not only from a “soldier’s viewpoint” but also from a humane aspect. Even before the official commencement of the book in Chapter 1, Ambrose examines the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of the men during possibly the most demanding moment of their lives. His prologue is filled with actual descriptions and actions of honorable people at both an individual and team level. Ambrose emphasizes throughout the book how men as a collective were able to overcome not only the military challenges but personal challenges as well. He wrote D-Day as if the reader were reading the diary of the men themselves. And his account isn’t solely of the Allied men; the depictions of Nazi soldiers and other “Axis men” are just as accurately described as those of the Allies. One might stereotypically think of the lives of these men as perverted and brainwashed when in reality, they aren’t so different from the lives of their opposition. Throughout the book, the lives of the men and women involved are interwoven into the history of the day, bringing past events vividly to life.

It’s accurate to say that Ambrose is a superb historian. With every chapter, he chronologically delves deeply into each aspect of the reasonings, makings, doings, and after-effects of D-Day. Ambrose retrieves his information from a multitude of resources, including confidential documents (now privately released) and hundreds of personal interviews from both sides of the war. He’s created a document that is incredibly unbiased. What sets D-Day apart is the reader’s ability to experience the day through the lives of the individuals and events of both the Allies and the Axis. Contrary to reading a historical reference—which often tends to be tedious—Ambrose has organized D-Day in a way that it functions as both a history textbook and an engrossing story. D-Day definitely gets two thumbs up!

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An Introduction to the History of D-Day. (2022, Nov 14). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/an-introduction-to-the-history-of-d-day/

"An Introduction to the History of D-Day." PapersOwl.com , 14 Nov 2022, https://papersowl.com/examples/an-introduction-to-the-history-of-d-day/

PapersOwl.com. (2022). An Introduction to the History of D-Day . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/an-introduction-to-the-history-of-d-day/ [Accessed: 25 Oct. 2024]

"An Introduction to the History of D-Day." PapersOwl.com, Nov 14, 2022. Accessed October 25, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/an-introduction-to-the-history-of-d-day/

"An Introduction to the History of D-Day," PapersOwl.com , 14-Nov-2022. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/an-introduction-to-the-history-of-d-day/. [Accessed: 25-Oct-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2022). An Introduction to the History of D-Day . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/an-introduction-to-the-history-of-d-day/ [Accessed: 25-Oct-2024]

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