The photograph shows American troops wading through water after reaching Normandy and landing at Omaha beach on D-Day, 1944. Looking at the photograph, why do you think that this landing was so dangerous?
After 18 hours of fighting on 6 June, the Allies had gained a foothold along the French coast. The German resistance to the Allied invasion never really happened as Hitler still believed that the invasion in Normandy was a trick and that the main invasion was going to be at Calais. Over one million troops had landed in France by the end of June and by 23 August Paris had been liberated.
✣ By the way
With the vast numbers of troops and equipment pouring into Europe from Britain and America, Germany stood very little chance of victory. Hitler continued to hope for a change in fortunes and began to use his new long-range rocket, the V-2, to bomb Britain. In December 1944, the Wehrmacht was able to halt the Allied push towards Berlin for a short time. The Battle of the Bulge took place between December 1944 and February 1945 and was the last attempt by Hitler to push back the Allied armies. The battle was a success for the Wehrmacht but it was not enough to halt the Allied advance.
Within the first hour of the invasion at Juno, half of the Canadian troops had been injured or killed.