Normandy landings

D-Day - A Critical Moment In History

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• published: 06 Jun 2014
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The Normandy invasion was the largest seaborne assault in world history and was a pivotal moment in World War 2. This is a brief look back at that day. Subscribe to The Daily Conversation for more videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/TheDailyConversation Facebook http://www.facebook.com/thedailyconversation Google+ https://plus.google.com/100134925804523235350/posts Twitter http://www.twitter.com/thedailyconvo Video clip credits: Original D-Day footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzgKMDydr5Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPU4p7UQOtU World War 2 from Space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3XscfGWuno Nazis In France: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzVCc76IepY Band of Brothers clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TieWKjAOk-I Saving Private Ryan clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHvqS2kk1rs D-day was the largest seaborne invasion in world history and was a pivotal moment in WWII. On the morning of June 6, 1944, nearly 160,000 allied soldiers crossed the English Channel and stormed five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of Normandy, France. The United States led the assault to try to retake the western coast of Europe from the Germans, who had conquered and been occupying it for four years. In the months and weeks leading up to the invasion, the allies used a variety of means to deceive the Germans, who knew an attack was coming, but didn't know where it be focused. After postponing the invasion by a day because of bad weather, the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces, American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, gave the go-ahead for the operation, codenamed Neptune. Shortly after midnight, 24,000 British, US, and Canadian airborne troops parachuted into France. Around the same time, minesweepers began clearing channels for the invasion fleet, which was comprised of almost 7,000 boats of all types--although around 4,100 of these were landing crafts carrying infantrymen. The Germans, by contrast, had just over 100 total ships in the area at the time and were heavily outnumbered. The same was true for the German Air Force, which could muster only 815 aircraft over Normandy in comparison to the Allies' 9,500. Naval bombardment of the beaches commenced at 05:45 AM, while it was still dark. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France starting at 06:30. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches. The shore was mined and covered with wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire obstacles, making the work of the beach clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting. The Allies did not achieve all of their goals on D-Day. Only Juno and Gold beach were linked in the first 24 hours, and all five bridgeheads were not connected until nearly a week had passed. However, the operation was successful as the Allies gained a precious foothold that gradually expanded as they drove into Germany from the west over the coming months. German casualties on D-Day were around 1,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 12,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead. With Russia bearing down from the east, the European side of World War II ended with the surrender of Germany less than a year after the Normandy operation. Once Japan surrendered in September, 1945, the deadliest conflict in human history was over. It had taken the lives of anywhere from 50 to 85 million people. The outcome of the war has been critical in shaping the geopolitical landscape of the last 70 years. The victorious great powers—the United States, China, the United Kingdom, France, and what is now the Russian Federation—became the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Thanks for watching this historic episode of the daily conversation, I'm Bryce Plank.