The Invasion

*The Western Allies landed in northern France, opening the "Second Front" against Germany. Germany had occupied France for four years. America had been at war for 2 and a half years.

*The Germans knew an attack was coming, but were not sure when and where, and the Allies used several deceptions to confuse them.

*The Allies had broken the German's code, and knew that Normandy was relatively undefended.

*On June 6, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower led the Allies in the Normandy assault.

*Three million men, along with thousands of ships, planes and tanks, crossed the English Channel and arrived before dawn.

*The forces were made up of troops from America, Canada, and Britain.

*In August, another landing in France led to the nation's liberation. With the help of the Soviets, Hitler's armies were eventually forced back to Germany.

Caring for the Wounded

The boats that dropped off fresh troops and supplies picked up the wounded men on the return trip and sent them to hospital ships.

This was important as the logistics of taking care of the wounded was often overlooked in a battle of this scale.

The LSTs (tank landing ships) transported almost 80% of the wounded evacuated from Normandy.

The hospital ships were painted white and were marked with a red Geneva cross and were protected under the provisions of the 1907 Hague Convention.





There were 17,345 army nurses in the European Theater of war by June 1945.

A Few Days Later

This picture was taken during low tide a few days after the invasion. Cargo is being hauled off of the landing ships onto one of the beaches. It illustrates the scale of the invasion and its success.