The D-Day Invasion

Joseph Argenzio struggled onto the beach, chaos and death all around him.

The men in front of him had been killed by German machine gun fire as soon as the landing craft dropped its ramp. Argenzio had jumped over the side and lost his helmet and ammunition in the water.

“Finally, I made it to a point where I figured I could run, and I did,” he recalled years later. “I zigzagged, slipping on these wet stones and tripping and falling. There were guys getting hit all around me and going down and screaming and yelling and yelling for medics.”

Argenzio, a 16-year-old soldier from Brooklyn, New York, was among the first wave of Allied troops landing on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, as part of the D-Day invasion of France.

For four years, much of Europe had been occupied by Nazi troops, and the Allied landings in Normandy were the first push to liberate France—and ultimately the rest of occupied Europe—from Nazi Germany.

This spring marks 80 years since the D-Day invasion, which is remembered
as a key turning point in World War II.

“D-Day announced to everybody on the continent that the Nazis couldn’t win,” says Jay Winter, an emeritus professor of history at Yale University. “This was the moment that victory becomes foreseeable.”

Joseph Argenzio crawled onto the beach. He was surrounded by chaos and death.

As soon as the landing craft dropped its ramp, German machine gun fire started.  The men in front of him had been killed. Argenzio had jumped over the side of the boat. He lost his helmet and bullets in the water.

“Finally, I made it to a point where I figured I could run, and I did,” he recalled years later. “I zigzagged, slipping on these wet stones and tripping and falling. There were guys getting hit all around me and going down and screaming and yelling and yelling for medics.”

Argenzio was a 16-year-old soldier from Brooklyn, New York. He was among the first group of Allied troops landing on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. This mission was part of the D-Day invasion of France.

For four years, Nazi troops occupied  much of Europe. The Allies made a first push to free France by landing in Normandy. It was the first step to ultimately free the rest of occupied Europe.

This spring marks 80 years since the D-Day invasion. It is seen as an important turning point in World War II.

“D-Day announced to everybody on the continent that the Nazis couldn’t win,” says Jay Winter, an emeritus professor of history at Yale University. “This was the moment that victory becomes foreseeable.”

World War II started in 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland (see timeline slideshow, below). The next year, Germany’s army overran Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, France, and Northern Africa.

At the helm of the Nazi regime that ruled Germany, and then a big chunk of Europe, was Adolf Hitler, an antisemitic zealot who blamed Europe’s Jews for all of Germany’s problems. Hitler eventually instituted a plan to exterminate Europe’s Jews. The Nazis and their collaborators rounded up Jewish people, sent them to concentration camps, and ultimately murdered 6 million of them.

If the Allied Nations—led by the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union—were going to defeat Hitler’s vast military machine, it would require an invasion of epic proportions. On D-Day, Allied troops threw themselves against German defenses and began the campaign that ultimately resulted in Germany’s surrender.

Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939 (see timeline slideshow, below). This was the start of World War II. The next year, Germany’s army invaded Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, France, and Northern Africa.

Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi regime that ruled Germany and eventually a big chunk of Europe. He was an antisemitic extremist who blamed Europe’s Jews for all of Germany’s problems. Hitler eventually started a plan to eliminate Europe’s Jews. The Nazis and their collaborators rounded up Jewish people. They were sent to concentration camps. In the end, 6 million Jews were murdered.

The Allied Nations were led by the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. If they were going to defeat Hitler’s vast military machine, it would require an invasion of grand proportions. On D-Day, Allied troops threw themselves against German defenses. They began the campaign that ultimately resulted in Germany’s surrender.

The risks were enormous. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander—and later the 34th U.S. president—delayed the start of the operation by 24 hours because of a fierce storm. German defenses on the beaches were so formidable that Eisenhower prepared a note before the invasion started in case the plan failed.

“If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone,” read the scrap of paper, which stayed in Eisenhower’s wallet unused.

Shortly after midnight on June 6, the attack began with some 18,000 Allied paratroopers landing in Normandy behind enemy lines. Their mission was to soften German defenses and secure key locations, but many were killed or injured.

The D-Day invasion involved an armada of some 7,000 ships crossing the English Channel, more than 11,000 Allied aircraft dropping more than 10,000 tons of bombs, and a force of almost 160,000 troops, including 73,000 Americans. Overall, more than 2 million Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics, and others were involved in pulling off the invasion.

“It was and still remains the largest amphibious military operation in world history,” says Stephen Rusiecki, a retired Army officer and author of Invasion On! D-Day, the Press, and the Making of an American Narrative. “There’s nothing that compares.”

Starting around 5:30 a.m., Allied forces landed on five beaches—code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword—across the Normandy coast. Everywhere except Omaha, the landings went relatively smoothly.

The risks were enormous. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander. (He would later become the 34th U.S. president.) Eisenhower delayed the start of the operation by 24 hours because of a fierce storm. German defenses on the beaches were formidable. Eisenhower prepared a note before the invasion started in case the plan failed.

“If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone,” read the scrap of paper, which stayed in Eisenhower’s wallet unread.

Shortly after midnight on June 6, the attack began. Some 18,000 Allied paratroopers landed in Normandy behind enemy lines. Their mission was to weaken German defenses. They were also to secure key locations. Many were killed or injured.

The D-Day invasion involved some 7,000 ships crossing the English Channel. More than 11,000 Allied aircraft dropped more than 10,000 tons of bombs. There was also a force of almost 160,000 troops, which included 73,000 Americans. Overall, more than 2 million people were involved in pulling off the invasion. This included Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics, and others.

“It was and still remains the largest amphibious military operation in world history,” says Stephen Rusiecki, a retired Army officer and author of Invasion On! D-Day, the Press, and the Making of an American Narrative. “There’s nothing that compares.”

Starting around 5:30 a.m., Allied forces landed on five beaches. The beaches had code names: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. They were spread across the Normandy coast. Everywhere except Omaha, the landings went relatively smoothly.

“The opening 20 minutes at Omaha were just a catastrophe,” says Robert Citino, a military historian affiliated with the National WWII Museum. “Nobody ‘stormed the beach’ at Omaha. They tenaciously clung on by their fingernails most of the morning, and slowly began to creep forward.”

Other aspects of the invasion, however, were a huge success. Despite the massive scale of the operation, the Allies managed to keep the location and date of D-Day secret. Even after the landings began, German forces were initially unsure whether this was the actual invasion or a feint to distract the Germans from another assault coming from elsewhere. That uncertainty delayed their response and helped the Allies gain a foothold.

The fighting on the beaches was essentially over by midnight on June 6. Even Omaha, where 2,400 Americans were killed or wounded, was secured. Young people played a critical role.

“The majority of the soldiers who went ashore and the majority of the sailors who got them there were not much more than teenagers,” says Craig Symonds, a former history professor at the U.S. Naval Institute.

By the end of that first day, the Allies had landed about 155,000 troops in Normandy and succeeded in building floating harbors to bring ashore thousands of tanks, jeeps, and supplies needed to fuel the war effort.

“Everybody was so afraid of Hitler’s war machine, which seemed so invincible,” explains Rusiecki. “So the success of D-Day becomes a huge morale booster for Americans.”

“The opening 20 minutes at Omaha were just a catastrophe,” says Robert Citino, a military historian affiliated with the National WWII Museum. “Nobody ‘stormed the beach’ at Omaha. They tenaciously clung on by their fingernails most of the morning, and slowly began to creep forward.”

Other parts of the invasion, however, were a huge success. Despite the massive scale of the operation, the Allies managed to keep the location and date of D-Day secret. Even after the landings began, German forces initially thought the invasion was intended to distract them from a different attack. That confusion delayed their response. It helped the Allies gain an advantage.

The fighting on the beaches was essentially over by midnight on June 6. Even Omaha, where 2,400 Americans were killed or wounded, was secured. Young people played a critical role.

“The majority of the soldiers who went ashore and the majority of the sailors who got them there were not much more than teenagers,” says Craig Symonds, a former history professor at the U.S. Naval Institute.

By the end of that first day, the Allies had landed about 155,000 troops in Normandy. They built floating harbors to allow thousands of tanks, jeeps, and supplies to advance on the beach. These supplies were critical to the war effort.

“Everybody was so afraid of Hitler’s war machine, which seemed so invincible,” explains Rusiecki. “So the success of D-Day becomes a huge morale booster for Americans.”

After capturing the beaches, the Allied troops began fighting their way inland. The day after the Normandy landings, the Allies liberated their first French town, Bayeux.

By June 30, the Allies had established a firm hold in Normandy—850,279 men, 148,803 vehicles, and 570,505 tons of supplies had been landed. Those supplies included vast amounts of ammunition and gasoline, but also everything from Hershey bars to blood plasma to treat the wounded.

And the supplies kept coming to fuel the Allied war machine as troops battled to defeat Germany. A constant stream of ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean bringing supplies from North America to Britain, then, month after month, ferrying those items across the English Channel to the human-made floating ports in Normandy.

“It was a logistical miracle,” says Symonds.

After capturing the beaches, the Allied troops began fighting their way inland. The day after the Normandy landings, the Allies liberated their first French town, Bayeux.

By June 30, the Allies had established a firm hold in Normandy. They landed 850,279 men, 148,803 vehicles, and 570,505 tons of supplies. Those supplies included vast amounts of ammunition and gasoline. They also included everything from Hershey bars to blood plasma to treat the wounded.

The supplies kept coming to fuel the Allied troops as they battled to defeat Germany. A constant stream of ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean bringing supplies from North America to Britain. These supplies were then sent, month after month, across the English Channel to the human-made floating ports in Normandy.

“It was a logistical miracle,” says Symonds.

Over the next few months, Allied forces—with the help of French resistance fighters—drove the Germans back town by town, road by road. They liberated Paris in August, after four years of German occupation.

From Paris, Allied soldiers pressed eastward toward Germany, intent on capturing Berlin. Fighting was intense, and they took heavy casualties, but by April 1945, Allied units from the west met up with Soviet troops who had fought the Germans back from Stalingrad and Moscow on the eastern front.

Nazi Germany, facing certain defeat, surrendered at midnight on May 8, 1945, ending the war in Europe just days after Hitler committed suicide in a Berlin bunker. (The war against Japan, in the Pacific, would last until August.)

Over the next few months, Allied forces and French resistance fighters drove the Germans back town by town, road by road. In August, they liberated Paris after four years of German occupation.

From Paris, Allied soldiers pressed eastward toward Germany. They were headed to capture Berlin. Fighting was intense and many were killed or wounded. By April 1945, Allied units from the west met up with Soviet troops. The Soviets had fought the Germans back from Stalingrad and Moscow on the eastern front.

Nazi Germany, facing certain defeat, surrendered at midnight on May 8, 1945. The war ended in Europe just days after Hitler committed suicide in a Berlin bunker. (The war against Japan, in the Pacific, would last until August.)

Until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, D-Day had been the deadliest day in recorded American history. According to the National D-Day Memorial Foundation, 2,502 Americans died on D-Day trying to liberate Europe.

But it remains one of the great military feats of all time, a gripping human drama that movies like Saving Private Ryan and TV shows like Band of Brothers have been telling ever since.

“D-Day is one of the best examples of the country coming together behind a common goal for a shared purpose,” says Houston Johnson, a history professor at Virginia Military Institute. “That’s one of the reasons why we look to it as a great day in American history.”

Its distinction goes beyond its military significance or its role in defeating Nazi Germany and ending World War II. D-Day harkens to a time when the country was united behind a cause and achieved something remarkable.

“Ultimately,” Rusiecki says, “D-Day is important because it’s a reflection of who we are and how we want to perceive America—as a people who will charge in and storm the beaches to liberate you.”

Until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, D-Day had been the deadliest day in recorded American history. According to the National D-Day Memorial Foundation, 2,502 Americans died on D-Day trying to liberate Europe.

But it remains one of the great military feats of all time. It was such a gripping human drama that movies like Saving Private Ryan and TV shows like Band of Brothers have been telling it ever since.

“D-Day is one of the best examples of the country coming together behind a common goal for a shared purpose,” says Houston Johnson, a history professor at Virginia Military Institute. “That’s one of the reasons why we look to it as a great day in American history.”

D-Day goes beyond its military importance or its role in defeating Nazi Germany and ending World War II. It goes back to a time when the country was united behind a cause and achieved something remarkable.

“Ultimately,” Rusiecki says, “D-Day is important because it’s a reflection of who we are and how we want to perceive America—as a people who will charge in and storm the beaches to liberate you.”