German Preparation for the Invasion of Normandy

On June 06, 1944, the biggest combined naval, military and air operation ever contrived took place, code-named Operation Overlord (Commemorative pp).

When the Allied armada arrived off the Normandy coast in France, it launched the largest amphibious assault in history, and by the end of that day, American, British, and Canadian troops were firmly established on each of the five beachheads (Zuljan pp). A week later, the Allies could confidently claim that Hitler's Festung Europa had been permanently breached and the coup de grace had been delivered to the Third Reich (Zuljan pp). The D-Day landings saw Allied forces mount a daring invasion of Nazi territory, marking the beginning of the campaign that would eventually lead to the Allied victory in Europe (Commemorative pp).

On May 18, 1944, the Oberbefehlshaber West, Supreme Commander of the Western Front, General Gerd von Rundtstedt spent the...
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