Existing comment:
D-Day
June 6, 1944
On June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied naval vessels and planes streamed toward Nazi-occupied France.
On the choppy waters of the English Channel, open landing craft approached the beaches of Normandy, carrying more than 150,000 soldiers -- loaded with gear, cold, soaked in sea spray, and many seasick.
They struggled ashore, in wave after wave, under relentless machine gun and artillery fire. Survivors clawed their way forward, breaking Hitler's coastal defenses and turning the tide in World War II.
The exact number of American, British, and Canadian soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who were killed on June 6, 1944 is unknown, but anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000 died that day. Thousands more died in the three months that followed as Allied forces battled their way across France toward Germany. |