75th anniversary of the Normandy Landings £2

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D-Day Landings

Seventy-five years ago, the Allies sought a foothold on mainland Europe in a bid to turn the tide of the Second World War. To defeat Germany, the Allies knew they had to open a second front, relieving pressure on the Soviet Union and weakening Hitler’s grip on mainland Europe. US Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower led the command team planning the operation. Fresh from masterminding the Allied victory in North Africa, British Army General Bernard Montgomery was put in charge of the ground troops.

An invasion of this scale was a huge logistical challenge, incorporating thousands of personnel and millions of tonnes of supplies. Deception campaigns kept the Germans off guard, unsure where the imminent invasion would come. When the day finally came on 6 June 1944, more than 130,000 men landed on five Normandy beaches - code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword - aided by around 7,000 ships and landing craft, 12,500 vehicles and 11,590 aircraft.