On 6 June 1944 , the Normandy coast witnessed the heaviest landings in History : The operation « Overlord ».

Closed to 5 000 ships crossed the English Channel over night, in a very short time. Earlier on, that same night, three parachutists divisions had come and had already moved inland, on either side of the 80-kilometre coastal stretch where the bridgehead had to be established.

In the early hours of the morning, the huge fleet lined up on the French side, where, during the occupation, the German command, under Field Marshal Von Rundstedt had asked the Todt organization to put up several fortifications equipped with powerful gun batteries. These fortifications were christened « the Atlantic Wall ». After the navy artillery had been prepared, the landing barges - « liberty ships » - started forging ahead towards the beaches while thousands of allied troops sprang out from their flanks to return German machine-gun fire.

Allied forces, under General Ike Eisenhower, who later on became an American president, assigned the five attack divisions to a beach sector each, between Valognes and Caen , under code names which have since then become famous: Utah Beach , Omaha Beach , Gold, Juno, Sword…

« Ivy », the 4 th US Infantry division landed in Utah, in the south east of Cotentin, while further east, the « Big Red One », the 1 st Infantry division, and the « Blue and Grey », the 19 th Infantry division, arrived Omaha Beach, located between Vierville and Colleville.

« Northumbrian », the 50 th British Infantry division controlled the central sector, between the villages of Rivière and Hamel.

Finally, the 3 rd Canadian Infantry division occupied Sword Beach on the east, between Hermanville and Colleville sur Orne.

On that day of June 6, intense fighting went on all daylong ; German troops resisted fiercely. Convinced the cause for which they were taking this extreme risk was a just one, coming under fire meant nothing to these men.

Arromanches, Pointe du Hoc, Sainte Mère Eglise, Pegasus Bridge, Ouistreham, are some of the strategic sites, where, in order to liberate Europe which had been under the yoke of Axis powers for several years, many new American, English and Canadian volunteer combatants, including French soldiers within their ranks, were killed.

At Omaha Beach alone, the toll was just so terrifying : 2 000 men put out of action. Seeing this, the soldiers said to Taylor , the American Colonel at the heart of this hell : « Two types of people have to remain on this beach, those who have died and those who will die. Let’s get out of here… ».

The message was clear. Since they did not have any possibility of withdrawing, the only way out was to conquer enemy positions, « Lets get out of here » simply meant : ahead !

At night fall that day, « the longest day», as it will forever be called, 170 000 soldiers, who had been parachuted, airborne or landed, were already in Normandy , fighting against German troops.

Blindé léger américain - Photo : Vaccaro Tony - Musée de Blérancourt

The door of Europe is open

Ten thousand Allied soldiers were reported killed, injured or missing. But thanks to this sacrifice, the major corridor, through which German troops were pushed right back to Berlin , was opened.

At this time when the world is once more under threat and going through a real tumultuous period, characterized by conflicts whose rationale or legitimacy we sometimes are unable to come to grips with, it is worthwhile remembering that it is thanks to the intervention of these volunteer allied combatants, and the blood of thousands of them, that the gates of Paris and those of Europe, were thrown open to the wind of liberty which blew over the beaches of Normandy on that fateful day of June 6, 1944.

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NDLR :  In the Morse language, the first four bar lines of Beethoven’s 5 th symphony, the musical arrangement of this chapter on the 6 June 1944 landings, (the famous pom pom pom pooom) correspond to letter V, like Victory and like Victoire. That is why the Allies decided to announce to the initiates and particularly to those of them in the French Resistance that the great day had come, by broadcasting this symphony on the air waves.

• D-Day - The landings in Normandy
• The operation « Overlord » in Normandy
• Normandy Mémory
• June 6, 1944 - Wind of liberty

• The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives