D-Day Facts & Figures

Date of D-Day

6 June 1944

Allied forces landed in Normandy after a weather delay moved the assault from 5 June to 6 June.

Overall campaign

Operation Overlord

Overlord was the wider invasion and campaign to establish a foothold in France and begin liberating Western Europe.

Naval assault phase

Operation Neptune

Neptune covered the Channel crossing, naval bombardment, minesweeping, landing craft, and assault landings.

Landing beaches

5

Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword formed the Allied landing front across the Normandy coast.

Troops on D-Day

150,000+

More than 150,000 Allied troops landed by sea or arrived by air on D-Day. Exact totals vary by source.

Source: Commonly cited Allied landing estimates vary by counting method.

A combined operation

Land, sea, air

The invasion depended on airborne forces, naval forces, ground troops, engineers, logistics, intelligence, and air power.

Deception mattered

Fortitude

Allied deception helped persuade German command that Pas-de-Calais might be the main invasion area.

Only the beginning

Normandy campaign

D-Day opened the way for weeks of hard fighting through Cherbourg, Caen, the bocage, Operation Cobra, and Falaise.