D-Day was the name chosen for what at last happened on June 6, 1944: the long-awaited invasion of Normandy, France, by troops from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and many other allied countries who had evacuated to Britain after the defeats of 1940.
Many were from Poland, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Holland.
In June 1944, France was mostly occupied by the armies of Nazi Germany, and the assault, code named Operation Overlord, landed around 156,000 Allied soldiers on the beaches of Normandy by the end of the day, but at significant loss in some of the chosen locations.
David Empson is a historian based in Ipswich. (Image: David Empson)
Tanks attempting to go ashore at the Gold Beach come under fire. Image: David Empson Collection (Image: David Empson Collection)
D-Day marked the beginning of Operation Overload. Image: David Empson Collection (Image: David Empson)
A medic tends to a wounded soldier. Image: David Empson Collection (Image: David Empson Collection)
German Field Marshal Rommel inspecting coastal defences. Image: David Empson Collection (Image: David Empson Collection)
A veterans' badge, awarded by the citizens of Normandy for the 60th anniversary. Image: David Empson Collection (Image: David Empson Collection)
Despite their success, by the end of that first day some 4,000 Allied troops were killed by German or Axis soldiers defending the beaches.
At the time, the D-Day invasion was the largest naval, air and land operation in history, and within a few days about a third of a million troops, plus more than 50,000 vehicles and some 100,000 tons of equipment, had been landed.
Weather played a big part and destroyed one of the Mulberry manmade harbours towed across the channel. However, a strong footing in occupied Europe had been made.
Individual soldiers, sailors and airmen waded onto the beaches, dropped in the dead of night by parachute, cleared mines before the assault, and a multitude of others all did their jobs under fire to make D-Day the success it became.
At Home
Here in Suffolk and all over Britain, nearly every person was involved in the war effort in some way. Boy Scout messengers, the Land Army and Timber Girls, nurses, air raid wardens, fire watchers, factory workers, and the Home Guard, to name just a few, were all keeping Britain safe, fed, or producing weapons of war.
Many local businesses turned their production lines over from goods to sell in the shops to items desperately needed in the daily build-up of wartime supplies, both for D-Day preparation and also for campaigns in Italy and Burma, above and below the sea, in the air, or to send to Stalin’s Russia.
Our beaches were off limits during World War Two (Image: Dave Kindred)
At many points around England, enormous preparations were in place stockpiling the weapons of war for D-Day, with Felixstowe and Ipswich for instance taking their share. Additionally, Ports from Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and all the way round to Portsmouth and Plymouth had countless ships berthed ready to start loading.
Airfields, too, were busy nearly every day across the region, with either RAF bombing at night or carrying out fighter sweeps. Then, the US Air Force would carry out daytime bombing and Reconnaissance flights along the enemy-held coast. These had to be carried out multiple times to locate any suitable invasion beaches or areas too strongly fortified.
David Empson is a historian based in Ipswich.
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