It is almost impossible to convey the sheer gargantuan scale of the Allied Invasion of Europe. The photographs above show some of the scope of the operation but even they are limited to showing just one snapshot of a massive operation. The first photograph shows Omaha Beach, just one of the five beaches that were landed on. The photograph frames a beach packed with hundreds of ships and vehicles while the sky is filled with barrage balloons. The bottom image shows just a portion of one of the Allied invasion fleets destined for Normandy.
Operation Overlord was the single largest combined air-sea-land amphibious invasion ever attempted in military history. One of the best ways to demonstrate the scale of the operation is to examine the numbers.
Over 2 million Allied troops had been gathered in Britain for the invasion.
156,000 Allied troops landed on D-Day, made up of:
73,000 Americans
61,715 British
21,400 Canadians
3,000+ Other Allied troops
380,000 German troops were deployed in the region
- ~50,000 troops in Normandy
- 2,200 tanks Northern France
- 570 Luftwaffe planes stationed in France & Holland
The German Atlantic Wall:
- 1,670 miles long
- Comprised 17 million cubic metres of concrete and 1.2 million tonnes of steel
- Cost 3.7 billion Deutschmarks to build
6,939 vessels made up the Invasion Armada
- 1,213 combat vessels
- 4,126 landing ships & craft
- 846 merchant vessels
- 736 ancillary craft
11,590 Allied aircraft at the Invasion’s disposal
- 9,500 combat aircraft (fighters/bombers)
- 14,674 sorties flown
- 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders landing 23,400 British and American paratroops
- 127 Allied Aircraft lost
Men & Equipment landed by D-Day+5 (11th June):
- 326,547 troops
- 54,186 vehicles
- 104,428 tons of supplies
Casualties suffered during Operation Neptune (the landings):
Allied: ~12,000 casualties with 4,413 confirmed dead during landings
- American: 6,603 killed & wounded
- British: 2,700 killed & wounded
- Canadian: 946 killed & wounded
French Civilian Casualties: Estimates vary between 25,000 - 39,000 (killed in the preliminary bombing and during the subsequent invasion and Battle of Normandy)
German:
- Estimated between 4,000 - 9,000 killed and wounded
- Estimated 200,00 killed and wounded during entire Operation Overlord
Image One Source - Omaha Beach
Image Two Source - Glider Landing Zone
Image Three Source - View out to see from Omaha Beach
Image Four Source - Paratroops drop into Normandy
Image Five Source - A blurry Aerial Photograph Showing a Small Part of the Invasion Fleet
‘Facts and figures of D-Day’ (Source)
’D-Day and the Battle of Normandy’ (Source)
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