The Preparation

The idea concluded on for the massive invasion of the europe was the plan OVERLORD.   This was the code word for the invasion.   It was decided that it would take an all our assault of the beaches of France to achieve this objective.  The question remained where?  Factors such as beach capacity, air and naval conditions led to the conclusion of one of two places, Pas de Calais, the main choice, and Caen Continin as the alternate.  Pas de Calais was the heaviest defended part of the beach and Caen was much less defended so it was concluded the invasion should take place there.  The objective was then the seizing of of the Cherbourg-Brittany group of ports, or from the cities of Cherbourg to Nantes.     This would most likely shock the Germans due to the distance of Caen to major ports.  It was decided that U.S troops would take the beaches of Omaha and Utah, and the Bittish and Canadiens would take Gold, Sword, and Juno.

These are excerpts from  Daily Telegraph crossword puzzels, containing three key D Day codewords.   These scared the allies by appearing in the tense days before the invasion

The next step was to figure out on which day the invasion should take place.  This depended on many factors.  First of all, the 18,000 paratroopers wanted a late rising moon, to give them a little cover as the jump the night before the day.  Next, the seaborne landings had to take place when the tide was low enough to expose Rommel's beach obstacles.  The timing of the whole mission depended on the tide.  A calm sea was also required.  Low winds blowing inshore, were required to clear the beach of smoke, so that targets would not be obscured.  Finally it was required to have three more quiet days after D Day to facilitate the quick build-up of men and supplies.

Some of Rommel's beach obstacles.  These were designed to keep L.C's from bringing troops close to shore.

Meteorological reports stated that the best time for the attack would be between the fifth and the seventh of June.  The ultimate choice for the fate of the freeworld depended on one man Eisenhower.  He set the date for the fifth.  Bad weather caused him to push the date back to the sixth.  He had two other options one was too postpone the invasions to June 19.  The problem with this is that there would be no moon to provide light for the paratroopers.  The other option was to postpone the invasion to July.  If they did that, iformation would most likely leak, spoiling the surprise the invasion depended on.

This map shows where the Axis Powers thought the invasion would take place, Pas-de-Calais. It was thought it would be here do to the favorable beach conditions and that it provided the shortest route to Germany.  This is why the Germans heavily protected the beach there.  The actual invasion took place sout at Caen

Pictures courtesy of The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan

Patrick McGinnis   2/3/00   www.oocities.org/paddyjoe_m/prep.html