6 June 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Codenamed Operation Overlord, General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.”
More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end the Allies gained a foot-hold in Fortress Europe. The cost was high though—more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more 100,000 soldiers to begin the long march across Europe to defeat Hitler and bring the Third Reich to its knees.