June 6 is the 64th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Europe that was the turning point in World War II.

At dawn on this date in 1944, a force of about 152,000 Allied forces from the United States, Britain and Canada stormed five beaches in Normandy, northern France. About 23,000 paratroopers who had been dropped behind enemy lines in advance of the invasion supported them.

The soldiers were met by the "Atlantic Wall," a line of fortifications the Germans had built all along the Atlantic Coast against the expected invasion. But the French beaches were especially well defended and included hundreds of thousands of mined beach obstacles. At high tide many of these obstacles were virtually invisible.

Although the Germans expected an invasion, the Allied strategists had taken care to let the Germans think it would come farther north at the narrowest part of the English Channel. So the Normandy beaches were not as heavily defended and, at the end of the day, all five beaches were secured. However, the German fortifications and fierce fighting cost the Allied forces 4,900 lives.

D-Day, as it was known, gave the Allied Forces a foothold in Europe. However, German resistance was strong, and it was many months before a German defeat became imminent.

• Overviews
  

American Experience: D-Day
PBS version of D-Day

British D-Day Museum

D-Day, History Revisited
British view of D Day

D-Day Lesson Plan

D-Day Museum
Visit the National D-Day Website

D-Day on the Web
Comprehensive guide/web directory to the Allied invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944.

French version of D-Day with Italian links
Original site is in French. Translates using babelfish.

Normandy 1944
Excellent resources build a picture of events surrounding D-Day.

Normandy 1944 Guide
Link site to D-Day information