D-Day: The American Way

The 6th of June 1944 has gone down in history as D-Day, the beginning of the end of World War II. Code-named “Operation Overlord,” it was the culmination of meticulous planning and cooperation between the Allied Forces under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Brave young American servicemen left their homes to cross the Atlantic to fight side by side with Allied troops from all over the world and to liberate France from the grip of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi domination. Of the five invasion beaches along the coast of Normandy, the first two, code named “Utah” and “Omaha” were stormed by American Battalions. At “Utah” the dawn landings were very successful as the 4th US Infantry Division met little German resistance. However at “Omaha” it was a very different story. An elite German Infantry Division held the higher ground and waited for the landing craft to come ashore before annihilating the defenceless young men. More than 5,000 were left dead, wounded or missing after the carn