D-Day — Operation Overlord

June 6, 1944 · Western Europe Theater

Phases

1. 1Midnight — Airborne Assault on the FlanksJune 6, 1944 — 00:15 to 03:00
2. 2Dawn — The Greatest Fleet Ever AssembledJune 6, 1944 — 03:00 to 06:30
3. 3H-Hour — Five BeachesJune 6, 1944 — 06:30 to Noon
4. 4Afternoon — Crisis at Omaha, Panzers at SwordJune 6, 1944 — Noon to 20:00
5. 5Nightfall — The FootholdJune 6, 1944 — Midnight

June 6, 1944 — 00:15 to 03:00

Just after midnight, 23,000 airborne troops drop onto both flanks of the invasion area. In the east, British glider infantry seize Pegasus Bridge intact in ten minutes and paratroopers silence the Merville battery. In the west, the US 82nd and 101st are scattered across the Cotentin by cloud and flak — but the confusion cuts both ways, paralyzing the German picture of where the invasion actually was. Sainte-Mère-Église is taken before dawn, the first town in France liberated.

• ➤British 6th Airborne — Gliders seize Pegasus Bridge; paratroopers take the Orne flank
• ➤US 82nd Airborne — Drops astride the Merderet river crossings
• ➤US 101st Airborne — Scattered drop — secures the causeway exits behind Utah
• ●The Atlantic Wall — 709th, 352nd & 716th Divisions on the coast
• ●Pegasus Bridge — taken intact, 00:26
• ●Sainte-Mère-Église — first town liberated