Remembering the courage of 1944
This year marks the 80th anniversaries of momentous battles and turning points of the Second World War.
The D-Day landings of 6th June – the largest seaborne invasion in history – marked the beginning of the liberation of western Europe.
Elsewhere on the globe exceptionally hard-fought battles were also turning the tide of the war. The Battle of Monte Cassino was the bloodiest of the Italian Campaign and in India Outnumbered British and Indian forces withstood weeks of siege and brutal fighting at the Battles of Kohima and Imphal.
About D-Day
Unprecedented coordination between Allied nations, and the intensive planning of engineers, meteorologists, logisticians and countless more, led to a force from 13 countries approaching Normandy in a 5000-vessel armada.
In the early hours of D-Day, 24,000 paratroopers and glider-borne troops landed behind German lines to provide tactical support. Massive naval and aerial bombardments attempted to supress the German defences and weaponry. Then a ground force of more than 130,000 troops came ashore on five beaches across a 50-mile stretch of Normandy coast, with the first waves often facing intact defences. By the end of D-Day there had been 10,000 allied casualties. Yet this was only the beginning. The ensuing Battle of Normandy was to last into August and cost tens of thousands of lives as it defeated and repulsed the occupying German forces eastwards. It was a decisive success for the Allies and paved the way for the liberation of much of north west Europe.
