THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
On this day in 1944 a total of 150 000 British, American, Canadian and French soldiers – collectively called the Allied Forces – invaded France at Normandy and pushed back the German forces, ultimately tipping the scales in their favour towards the end of World War 2.
Earlier in the war, Germany had occupied France and planned to invade the whole of Europe, including Britain.
The Allied soldiers converged in Britain and were transported in 6 000 vessels across the English Channel to the beaches of Normandy, in northern France. Germany expected a large-scale attack but didn’t know where it would happen. By 17 June more than half a million Allied forces had landed in France and could begin pushing back the German forces. D-Day in military terms generally is used for the date of a planned attack. These days we use the word to refer to the day of any important event.