1. The Longest Day
1.1. Nearly 7,000 ships carrying more than 100,000 soldiers headed for Normandy’s coast. At the same time, 23,000 paratroopers were dropped inland, east and west of the beaches. Allied fighter-bombers raced up and down the coast, hitting bridges, bunkers, and radar sites. At dawn, Allied warships began a tremendous barrage. Thousands of shells rained down on the beaches, code-named “Utah,” “Omaha,” “Gold,” “Sword,” and “Juno.” The American landing at Utah Beach went well. The German defenses were weak, and in less than three hours the troops had captured the beach and moved inland, suffering fewer than 200 casualties. On the eastern flank, the British and Canadian landings also went well. By the end of the day, British and Canadian forces were several miles inland. Omaha Beach, however, was a different story. Under intense German fire, the American assault almost dis-integrated. Lieutenant John Bentz Carroll was in the first wave that went ashore.
2. Landing in France
2.1. Planning Operation Overlord
2.1.1. Knowing that the Allies would eventually invade France, Hitler had fortified the coast along the English Channel.
2.1.2. Given all these requirements, there were only a few days each month when the invasion could begin. The first opportunity was from June 5 to 7, 1944.
2.1.3. June 5 to 7, 1944. Eisenhower’s planning staff referred to the day any operation began by the letter D. The date for the invasion, therefore, came to be known as D-Day.
2.1.4. Heavy cloud cover, strong winds, and high waves made landing on June 5 impossible. The weather was forecast to improve briefly a day later.
2.1.5. The Channel would still be rough, but the landingships and aircraft could operate. After looking at forecasts one last time, shortly after mid-night on June 6, 1944, Eisenhowergave the final order: “OK, we’ll go.”
3. Striking Italy and Germany
3.1. Strategic Bombing
3.1.1. Royal Air Force had dropped an average of 2,300 tons (2,093 t) of explosives on Germany every month for more than three years.
3.1.2. The United States Eighth Army Air Force had dropped an additional 1,500 tons (1,365 t) of bombs during the last six months of 1942.
3.2. Striking Soft Under Bellie
3.2.1. When bombing campaign against Germany intensified, plans to invade Sicily also moved ahead.
3.2.2. The invasion began dawn on July 10, 1943. Despite bad weather, the Allied troops made it ashore with few casual-ties.
3.2.3. A new amphibious truck delivered supplies and artillery to the soldiers on the beach.
3.2.4. The invasion began before Eight days after the troops came ashore, American tanks smashed through enemy lines and captured the western half of the island.
3.3. The Tehran Conference
3.3.1. Roosevelt wanted to meet with Stalin before the Allies invaded France. In late 1943,
3.3.2. Stalin promised to launch a full-scale offensive against the Germans when the Allies invaded France in 1944.
3.3.3. Roosevelt and Stalin then agreed to divide Germany
3.3.4. Stalin promised that once Germany was defeated, the Soviet Union would help the United States against Japan.
4. Driving Japan Back
4.1. MacArthur returns
4.1.1. The campaign began by invading Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, east of New Guinea, in August 1942. It continued until early 1944, when MacArthur’s troops finally captured enough islands to surround the main Japanese base in the region. In response, the Japanese withdrew their ships and aircraft from the base, although they left 100,000 troops behind to hold the island. Worried that the navy’s advance across the central Pacific was leaving him behind, MacArthur ordered his forces to leap nearly 600 miles (966 km) to capture the Japanese base at Hollandia on the north coast of New Guinea. Shortly after securing New Guinea, MacArthur’s troops seized the island of Morotai—the last stop before the Philippines.
4.2. Island-hopping in the Pacific
4.2.1. When the landing craft hit the reef, at least 20 ships ran aground. The marines had to plunge into shoulder-high water and wade several hundred yards to the beach. Raked by Japanese fire, only one marine in three made it ashore. Once the marines reached the beach, the battle was still far from over. Although many troops died wading ashore, one vehicle had been able to cross the reef and deliver its troops onto the beaches. The vehicle was a boat with tank tracks, nicknamed the “Alligator.”