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D-Day Timeline

Introduction

After years of planning, the invasion of Europe had been set for June 5th 1944. Secrecy was maintained until the very last moment when the vast, assembled fleet was ready to set sail.

But then, everything had to be stopped. Weather reports over the coast of Normandy were terrible, and the invasion would have to be delayed for 24 hours. The forecast for the next day, June 6th, was still not good, but it was better, and every moment of delay now reduced the chance of catching the Germans by surprise. Eisenhower gave the order to sail.

The attack on Normandy began from air, as paratrooper divisions from Britain and America were dropped into enemy territory. They had the essential task of capturing key bridges, so that the Germans would not be able to launch an effective counter-attack, at the same time eliminating some of the most deadly defenses of the Atlantic Wall. In the darkness and in foreign territory, there were horrifically high casualty rates among these paratroopers.

The Allies had already established air superiority and at 3am, 5000 Allied fighters quickly brushed away 119 enemy aircraft, allowing the heavy bombers to begin their work. They would soon be joined by the battleships, in a heavy bombardment which swept up to 20 miles inland. Finally, the land troops disembarked onto the beaches. There were five separate landing sites: the British and Canadian beaches codenamed Juno, Sword and Gold, and the two American sites codenamed Utah and Omaha. After heavy fighting, all five were eventually captured as beachheads.
00:00 Hours
Airborne Landing Begins

Allied airborne forces began the invasion of Europe shortly after 00:00 hours. First in were the elite pathfinder units, who marked out drop zones on the ground for the rest of their divisions. Landing by parachute and glider, British and American paratroops deployed on the flanks of the invasion zones to seize important bridges and road junctions.

British 6th Airborne Division successfully captured and held Pegasus Bridge on the eastern flank, preventing German reinforcement of the beaches and securing an exit route for the invasion force.
03:00 Hours
Heavy Bombing Raids

At 03:00 hours Allied bombers launched massive raids against German defensive positions in Normandy.

The complete air superiority of the Allies meant that the bombers were almost entirely unchallenged as they chose their targets.
04:00 Hours
Allied Invasion Fleet Arrives

The Allied armada of 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vessels arrived off the coast of Normandy at 04:00 hours.

The warships, including seven battleships and eighteen coastal cruisers, commenced bombardment of coastal defenses in the region of the five beaches selected as landing sites.
6:30 Hours
U.S. Landings Begin

The Allies would attempt to land on five beaches in the early stages of D-Day, codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

Later in the day, when the beaches were secure, they would attempt to link-up to create a single salient of the four easternmost beachheads. U.S. landings at Utah and Omaha began at 06:30 hours - an hour before British and Canadian landings.

Things immediately began to go wrong: at Utah, the tide carried the landing-craft away from their target beaches - by sheer luck this caused American troops to avoid heavier defenses, and the area was quickly secured with few casualties. At Omaha there was less luck. All but two of the amphibious tanks sank in the heavy seas, and German resistance was unexpectedly fierce. Casualties quickly began to mount as successive waves of American assault infantry became pinned-down on the beach.
07:25 Hours
British and Canadian Landings Begin

British and Canadian landings began at 07:25 hours. British landings at Sword and Canadian landings at Juno went well, with the beaches rapidly secured after only moderate resistance.

At Gold, the British 50th Northumbrian Division had to fight hard to finally overcome German defenses. By midday, all three beaches were secure and reinforcements, including the 7th ‘Desert Rats’ Armored Divisions, began to unload.

British forces advancing from Sword established contact with 6th Airborne Division defending Pegasus Bridge. Other troops, from the British 3rd and the Canadian 3rd Infantry Divisions pushed inland towards the Normandy town of Caen, their objective for D-Day.
12:00 Hours
British and Canadian forces push inland

At 12:00 hours Allied troops were beginning to push inland from the beaches at four of the five landing zones. At Omaha, however, things had gone badly wrong.

Regimental Combat Teams from the 1st US Infantry Division had lost tank and engineer support on the approach to the beach. Specially-modified amphibious tanks had sunk with their crews in the heavy seas. Landing-craft struggled to reach the beach under heavy fire while dodging underwater obstacles. They had also run up against the veteran 352nd German Infantry Division, which Allied intelligence had failed to locate.

Progress was eventually made when small, isolated groups of American soldiers, landing away from the main target beaches, pushed inland and were able to attack German defenses from the flank and rear. But although Americans now had the upper-hand, the beach was still not secure at 12:00 hours. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed or wounded on Omaha beach, and by the end of the day they had penetrated only 2,000 yards inland.

Meanwhile the rest of the beaches had been safely captured. The British 3rd Division began its advance toward its D-Day objective, Caen, at approximately 12:00 hours. Units advancing from Gold and Juno beaches linked-up, before driving south towards Bayeaux. American troops of the 4th Infantry Division landing at Utah took less than 200 casualties on D-Day, and after they had broken through light German defenses on the coastline pushed inland through the marshes to make contact with the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions.
16:00 Hours
Hitler Authorizes German Counter-Attack

As British infantry pushed inland attempting to reach their objectives before the end of the day, they came under heavy German counter-attack. This was the German 21st Panzer Division, attempting to drive a wedge between Canadian and British forces advancing from Juno and Sword.

Because British armor was still en route, caught up in the traffic jams on the beaches, it was left to British anti-tank gunners to repel the German attack. This they achieved, but there was now no question of reaching Caen that day.

At approximately 16:00 hours at Fuhrer Headquarters, Hitler at last realized the Normandy landings were not a feint intended to draw his reserve divisions away from Pas de Calais, and committed 1st SS Panzer Corps to the fighting in Normandy.
D-Day Ends

The Allies have successfully established a lodgement area in Occupied Europe. Although not all objectives have been secured, the landings have been a success.

By the end of D-Day, the Allies had landed 130,000 troops by sea and 29,000 troops by air. Determined resistance, German counter-attacks and bottlenecks at beach exits prevented the Allies achieving all objectives.

British 3rd Infantry Division was 3 miles short of Caen, and American troops were struggling to get off the beach at Omaha. Nor had the four eastern landing beaches been established as a single salient. Nevertheless, the Allies had acquired a toehold in Europe and under the cover of overwhelming air superiority, reinforcements and supplies began to pour in.