D-Day, or Operation Overlord, was the beginning of the end of the war. It comprised of five main beach landings, Two whole paratrooper divisions and many resistance and special forces units. It was the result of years of planning and careful tactics. At the beginning many allied spy rings began feeding false information to ensure that the Nazis set up fortifications elsewhere. Some reports even suggested an allied landing in Norway. The landing was scheduled for the morning of June 5, 1944 but due to weather the paratroopers were unable to safely jump so it was postponed. Then that night thousands of paratroopers jumped into planes and parachuted into enemy territory. The landing began at 6:30am on June 6, 1944.
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The beaches of Normandy lit up with machine gun fire causing many casualties. The Canadians and British forces at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches received light opposition and the Americans at Utah had the same experience. Unlike the other landing forces the Americans at Omaha beach received the most opposition resulting in over 2,000 casualties by days end. The total number of casualties that day where estimated at 4,000 with thousands more wounded or missing. By the end of the day 156,000 allied troops had landed successfully at Normandy. Less than a week after over 326,000 troops, 50,000 vehicles and 100,000 tons of equipment had reached the beaches of Normandy.
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The success of the landing was mainly due to the French Resistance and S.O.E. sabotages on railroads and other military compounds. There was also a fair bit of confusion during the invasion causing the Germans to be taken by surprise and revive very little reinforcements in time. By the end of the month the allies had seized the port of Cherbourg, landed 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles and were ready to continue the push to Continue the liberation of mainland Europe |
The Liberation of Paris was a big moment to the French People. It was a sign of true liberation and many developed the idea that the end was near. The battle to retake the city began on the 23 of August, 1944. Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French forces, was insistent that French forces should be the ones to liberate the city. He got his wish and the 2nd Armoured Division of the Free French Forces moved into the north part of Paris while the 4th Infantry Division moved in from the south. Throughout the area many workers went on strike and Resistance fighters came out of the shadows in mass numbers. The Germans had set up explosive charges at various points in the city, under the orders to not hand over the city until it is a pile of ashes. The General of the garrison, Dietrich von Choltitz decided against blowing up the city as he did not want to be the person to blow up the “City of Lights”.
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The 2nd Armoured Division were might with heavy artillery fire when the first began the assault but the next day they had reached the suburbs and began to make their way to the city center. Just before midnight on August 24 the allied forces had made there way through the majority of the city. Over the course of the night German resistance decreased with the majority of the 20,000 garrisoned troops surrendering or fleeing. The Germans had no occupation by the 25 and the next day Charles de Gaulle and the Free French soldiers began the victory march down the Champs d’Elysées, a very popular street in Paris, and there hasn’t been a bigger crowd at a parade in Paris until France won the World Cup. It was a symbol of victory for the french public and sparked hope in the remaining french still waiting to be liberated.
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In World War Two, technology had a major impact on the devastation of the war. Looking at numbers, World War Two was immensely more destructive. This was due to the new military technology. The French military’s biggest asset were their bombing fighter jets. The most common bomber used by the French military was the Bloch MB.170. The Bloch MB.170 was a bomber with speed, altitude, and maneuverability that allowed it to evade interception by the German fighters. The plane would sit three crew members and weighed 15,784 lbs loaded and 12,346 lbs unloaded. The bomber had 7 machine guns and the capacity to hold eight 110 lb bombs.
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The French didn’t just use aircraft, the majority of the soldiers down on the battlefront would use the Fusil à répétition 7 mm 5 M rifle. This bolt action rifle was manufactured in 1937 and was made for the French infantry. Over 250,000 were made for the French Army and were used long past World War Two. Another vital part of the front line soldiers weapons was the Fusil-mitrailleur Modèle 1924 M29 machine gun. This was the standard light machine gun for the French Army during World War Two. This was a robust and reliable weapon that would never jam even in the thick of the action. This machine gun was first adopted in 1939. One of the most important weapons of an army is their tank. This was no different for the French as they used the Char 2C. This was the heaviest tank at the disposal of the French weighing in at 69 tons. The tank was 3 meters wide and 5 meters long. The tank was a work of art, able to hold up to 12 crew members.
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